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Mill * « 



FIGHTING PHIL 



THE LIFE AND MILITARY CAREER 



OF 



PHILIP HENRY SHER IDAlSr 

General of the Army of the United States 




BY 



EEV. P: C. HEADLEY 

author of I.IVES OF GENERAL GRANT, GENERAL SHERMAN, 

ADMIRAL FARRAGUT, GENERAL MITCHEL, JOHN ERICSSON, 

E31PRESS JOSEPHINE, NAPOLEON BONAPARTE, MARY, 

QUEEN OF SCOTS, LAFAYETTE, AVOMEN OF THE 

BIBLE, THE ISLAND OF FIRE. 



li- 



.n^ 



NEW EDITION 




BOSTON 1889 
LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS 

10 MILK STREET NEXT " THE OLD SOUTH MEETING HOUSE " 

NEW YORK CHAS. T. DILLINGHAM 

718 AND 7:20 Broadway 



A 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in tlie year 1865, by 

WM. H. APPLETON, 

In tlie Clerk's Office of the District Court of tlie United States for tlie 

Southern District of New York. 

COPYEIGHT, 1888, 
By LEE AND SHEPARD. 



ii-^i/ot 



BOSTON: 
S. J. Parkhill & Co., Printers, 

1888. 



TO 
FRANK E. NYE 

CADET IN THE U. S. MILITARY ACADEMY AT "WEST POINT 

THIS RECORD OF 

A HERO "WHO ROSE FROM HUMBLE LIFE AMONG THE PEOPLE 

AND "WON THEIR HIGHEST APPLAUSE 

IS INSCRIBED 

BY 
THE AUTHOR 



PREFACE. 



The biography of General Sheridan is added to 
the "Young Folks' Heroes of the Rebellion," as 
a fitting conclusion of the present series ; both on 
account of his most signal services in the closing 

scenes of the rebellion, and because he represented 
i 
so well the cavalry of the Union army. 

The North was ashamed of her cavalry, in contrast 
with that of the South, at the beginning of the war ; 
but before its close was proud of the troopers whom 
their last great leader, Sheridan, covered with glory 
unsurpassed in the history of any conflict. 

Major-General Sheridan furnishes a fine example 
of success achieved by personal efibrt — unaided genius 
reaching the highest position of military honor, from 
the most humble place in early life. The youth of 
the country will become familiar with his history, not 



» PEEFACE. 

alone for these reasons, but with Generals Grant, 
Shennan, and Thomas, he makes the grand quartette 
of preeminent generals who finished the rebellion. 

An extended notice of the course of study and dis- 
cij^line in the Military Academy at West Point is 
given, because so little is known by the people gen- 
erally of the national school, which has trained, and 
will continue to train, the best generals of the land. 

A brief history of the cavalry is added, the most 
romantic department of the service, and one which 
has won the admiration of the world under such 
leaders as Sheridan, Buford, Stoneman, Grierson, 
and Kilpatrick. 

May the young reader be inspired by the gallant 
deeds of our heroes of the civil war, to stand by the 
Stars and Stripes, and by every cause which blesses 
the country, and honors Him who has carried us vic- 
toriously through the great, and, we may hope, the 
last terrible trial of the loyalty of the peoj^le and the 
B\ rength of the Republic I 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGl 

The Sheridan s- -The childhood of " Phil "—Western Scenes — Early fond- 
ness for the Horse — The Gilpin Eide — Drives a Cart— Goes to West 
Point — Life there — Graduates Second Lieutenant — Classmates — Joins 
his Eegiment, 13 

CHAPTER II. 

The Camanches and Apaches — The Border Warfare — A Surprise and Bat- 
tle — Heroic Conduct — Unpleasant Collision with his Commander — 
Seeks a new Field of Service — Ordered to Oregon — Eepairs to New 
York to Sail — Assigned to command Fort Wood, . . . . , 42 

CHAPTER III. 

Lieutenant Sheridan sails for San Francisco — Immediately joins an Exi)e- 
dition into the Interior— He goes to the Yokima Country — Adventures 
—Battle at the Cascades . 51 

CHAPTER IV. 

A new Command — Creates a Military Post — At Yokima Bay — General 
Scott's Commendation — The Wilderness Warfare — Its Discipline — The 
Kebellion — Sheridan made Captain — Eepairs to St Louis — New Du- 
ties — Quartermaster — A Staff Officer's estimate of Him — The Battle 



10 CONTENTS. 

of Pea Eidge — Captain Sheridan and General Curtis disagree — The 
reason — ^The result, . . . S8 

CHAPTER V. 

The Captain in a new Enterprise for the Army — Quartermaster again 
at Corinth— Enters the Cavalry Service— The Past and Present of the 
Cavalry — Crossing Elvers — The "War-horse, ... , , 73 

CHAPTER VI. 

Colonel Sheridan''6 raiding around Corinth with Elliot's Command— En- 
larged Eesponsibility — General Grant's Commendation — Created Brig- 
adier-General — A Daring Movement — Victory — Stone Elver . . . 100 

CHAPTER VII. 

The condition of the National Cause— General Sheridan's Movements— 
Eaiding and Drilling — Other Cavalry Operations at this time — Gen- 
erals Stoneman, Buford, and Kilpatrick— The great Eaid on Eichmond 
— A curious Incident, .......... 128 

CHAPTER VIII. 

The Summer Army Work — ^The Advance of the Army of the Cumberland 
— Sheridan's Position — Liberty Gap — On to Chattanooga — Chicka- 
mauga — The Deadly Conflict — The Pause in the Strife, .... 146 

CHAPTER IX. 

Change of Commanders— General Sheridan's Command Enlarged— General 
Bragg Eeenforced and Defiant— General Grant gets ready for him — 
The Battle— Sheridan, .... ITI 

CHAPTER X. 

The Pursuit of the Eebel Army— Off for Knoxville— In East Tennes- 
see—A Conference of Generals— Sheridan at Washington— Succeeds 
General Pleasanton in the Army of the Potomac— First Duty in his 
now Field, 19si 



CONTENTS. 11 

CHAPTER XI. 

PAOH 

The Alarm— The Strategy of Sheridan— The Victory— The Work of De- 
etruction — The Third Rebel Invasion of Maryland — A new Military 
Division — General Sheridan commands it — He is on the track of 
Early— The Eebel General at Berryville— The Battle of Winchester 
opens, > 214 

CHAPTER XII. 

The Decisive Moment in the Battle — The Yictorions Onset — Scenes on 
the Field— The gallant Chief after the Triumph— Anecdotes of him — 
The Dying Soldier after the Charge, 23a 

CHAPTER XIII. 

A Prompt Pursuit— A Bold Front— Skilful Tactics— The Attack on Early's 
Position — The line Breaks — The Flight — The spoils of Victory— Cavalry 
Movements — Destruction of Property — The Enemy on the Eear— Bat- 
tle again, and Victory— Further Devastation, ...... 258 

CHAPTER XIV. 

The Position of the Armies— The Plot — The Battle and partial success of 
the Enemy — The Return of the Dauntless Chief— The Eally and the 
Victory, 270 

CHAPTER XV. 

The Stirring Official Eecord of the Great Battle — General Custar to his 
T* oops — The National Joy and Congratulations — Early's Chagrin — The 
President's Call to Grateful Praise, 297 

CHAPTER XVI. 

The Weeks of Skirmishing — General Early's Movements — Guerrillas- 
General Sheridan's Advance — A Series of Successes — Another Track of 
Desolation, SOT 



12 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

PAGI 

General Sheridan's Story of the Great Campaign— His Pen as unerring as 
his Battle-blade — The Surrender of General Lee— National Joy, . . 816 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

The Pursuit of Johnston— General Sherman Negotiates— The President 
Slain— A great Transition in the Public Feeling — The Government 
account of the Assassination — The surrender of Johnston, , . ,843 

CHAPTER XIX. 

The Armies Converge toward Washington — The Unconquerable Sheridan 
not allowed to Eest and enjoy Eeviews — Is Serenaded — Departs for 
Texas — The Grand Review — New Military Department — General Sher- 
idan's Command, 846 

CHAPTER XX. 

General Sheridan a Catholic — His Qualities as a Commander — Personal 
Presence — " Sheridan's Kide"— The Poem and its History , , . .349 

CHAPTER XXI. 

General Sheridan's Career in Peace — Travels Abroad — Energy at Chicago — 
Kcstorlng Political Quiet in Louisiana — AsLieutenant-General — Promoted 
to the Generalship of the Army — Last Illness — Voyage to Nonqultt — 
Death — Burial — Tributes to His Memory 359 



CHAPTER I. 

The Sheridans— The Childhood of "Phil "—Western Scenes— Early fondness foi 
the Horse — The Gilpin Eide — Drives a Cart — Goes to West Point— Life 
there — Graduates Second Lieutenant — Classmates — Joins his Eegiment 

N the tide of emigration that came to the shores of 
the Republic after the last war with England, were 
the ancestors of our gallant general. The name, 
Sheridan, has been familiar for a century to the 
dramatic circles of the world. Whether the dis- 
tinguished father and son, Thomas and Richard, were of 
the same stock, is not known, but they all did call Ireland 
their native land. Mr. Sheridan landed in Boston, and 
while in the Bay State his illustrious sou was born in 
1831. Soon after he removed to Ohio, and settled on 
the great thoroughfare of western travel running through 
Perry County, formed about a dozen years before from 
portions of Washington, Muskingum, and Fairfield Coun- 
ties, and named after Commodore Oliver H. Perry. 
Along this grand highway settlements were springing up, 
whose inhabitants were mainly Catholics. Their sane- 



14 LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

tuary of St. Joseph at Somerset, the shu-e-town, is the 
oldest house of public worship in the State. For several 
years, or until steam navigation and cars improved the 
means of traveling, " a perpetual stream of emigrants 
rolled westward along its course, giving constant occupa- 
tion to hundreds of tavern-keepers, seated at short dis- 
tances on its borders, and consuming all the spare grain 
for several miles north and south of its line. Groups of 
merchants on horseback, with led horses, laden with 
Spanish dollars, travelled by easy stages every spring 
and autumn along its route, congregated in parties of ten 
or twenty individuals for mutual protection, and armed 
with dirks, pocket pistols, and pistols in holsters, as rob- 
beries sometimes took place in the more wilderness parts 
of the roads. The goods, when purchased, were wag- 
oned to Pittsburg, and sent in large flatboats or keel- 
boats to their destination below, while the merchant re- 
turned on horseback to his home, occupying eight or ten 
weeks in the whole tour." 

Little " Phil" showed early a fondness for that noblest 
of animals, the horse. At five years of age he was play- 
ing near his home, when some lads came along and 
amused themselves with the wide-awake boy. A horse 
was feeding quietly in an adjacent lot. 

" Phil, would you like a ride ?" they said to him. 

" Yes, give me one." 

In a few moments the boy was on the animals ba(;k. 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 15 

The sudden ani unceremonious mounting of the young 
rider started the steed, and away he ran. 

" Whoa ! whoa ! " sang out the mischievous lads, 
but in vain. Over the fence he sprang, and once on the 
highway it was a Gilpin ride. " Phil" clung to the 
mane, while the sobered authors of the race turned pale 
with the apprehension of a tragical end to it, expecting to 
see him dashed to the earth and killed. But out of sight 
horse and rider vanished, miles soon lay between the two 
parties, when the horse suddenly turned into the shed of 
a tavern where its owner had frequently stopped in his 
travel. Men came out, and recognizing the horse, ques- 
tioned the boy. One of the curious company, after secur- 
ing the foaming animal, without saddle or bridle, and 
the unterrified " Phil," inquired : 

" Who learned you to ride ? " 

*' Nobody," answered the boy. 

" Did no one teach you how to sit on a horse?" ask- 
ed another. 

" Oh, yes ! Bill Seymour told me to hold on with my 
knees, and I did." 

" Wasn't you frightened?** 

" Nary a bit ; I wanted to go on further, but the 
horse wouldn't go." 

"Ain't you sore, boy?'* 

" Kinder, but I'll be better to-morrow, and then I'll 
ride back home." 



16 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 

*' That boy," said the questioner, " has pluck enough 
to make an Indian hunter." 

The following morning "Phil" was lame and sore, 
still he wanted to go home. The surprised and interested 
people kept the little fellow to nurse him before he under- 
took the return trip. Meanwhile, the owner of the horse 
on his own account, and in behalf of the family, made his 
appearance. He had learned along the way the course 
of the young Gilpin. He expressed astonishment that he 
was not thrown, as the horse was vicious, and had un- 
saddled excellent horsemen. This was "Phil's" first 
cavalry experience, but neither a charge nor a raid. 

Like Grant, Mitchell, and others, who have worked 
their way up to high positions in public life, " Phil" soon 
began to earn his daily bread in doing errands and little 
"jobs." When he was old enough to leave home he 
went to Zanesville, in Muskingum County, on the river 
of that name, and one of the most promising towns of 
the State.* As it was for a time the home of young 
Sheridan, and from which dates his entrance upon his 
military career, you will be interested in a brief account 
of its origin, and life around it, half a century ago : 

"In May, 1796, Congress passed a law authorizing 
Ebenezer Zane to open a road from "Wheeling, in Vir- 
ginia, to Limestone, now Maysville, Kentucky. In the 
following year, Mr. Zane, accompanied by bis brother, 
Jonathan Zane, and his sonrin-law, John Mclntire, both 




T-i 

02 






< 



r.IFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 17 

experienced woodsmen, proceeded to mark out the new 
road, which was afterwards cut out by the two latter. 
The cutting out, however, was a very hasty business, in 
which nothing more was attempted than to make the 
road passable for horsemen. As a compensation for 
opening this road. Congress gi^anted to Ebenezer Zane 
the privilege of locating military warrants upon three 
sections of land, not to exceed one mile square each ; the 
first of these to be at the crossing of the Muskingum, the 
second at the Hockhocking, and the third at the Sciota. 

'* One of the conditions annexed to the grant of Mr. 
Zane, was that he should keep ferries across these rivers 
during the pleasure of Congress. Messrs. Zane and 
Mclntire gave the Muskingum ferry for five years to 
William McCuUoch and Henry Crooks, on condition that 
they should move to the place and keep the ferry, which 
they did. The ferry was kept about where the upper 
bridge is situated, and the ford was near the site of the 
present dam. The ferry-boat was composed of two 
canoes, with a stick lashed across. The first flatboat 
used for the ferry was one in which Mr. Mclntire re- 
moved from Wheeling, in 1799. Mr. Zane resided at 
Wheeling. The first mail ever carried in Ohio was 
brought from Marietta to McCulloch's cabin, by Daniel 
Convers, in 1798, where, by the arrangement of the post- 
master-general, it met a mail from Wheeling and one 
from Limestone. McCulloch, who could barely rear!. 



18 LITE OF GENEEAL SHEKIDAN. 

W2LS authorized to assort the mails, and send each pad ge 
in its proper direction, for which he received S30 per in- 
num ; but the service often fell to the lot of Mr. Convers, 
as he was more expert. At that time the aforesaid mail* 
met here weekly. Four years after, a number of families 
having settled here, a regular post-office was opened, and 
Thomas Dowden appointed postmaster, who kept his 
office in a wooden building near the river, on Front 
Street. 

'*In 1799 Messrs. Zane and Mclntire laid out the 
town, which they called Westbourn, a name which it con- 
tinued to bear until a post-office was established by the 
postmaster-general, under the name of Zanesville, and 
the village soon took the same name. A few families 
from the Kanawha settled on the west side of the river 
soon after McCulloch arrived, and the settlement received 
pretty numerous accessions until it became a point of im- 
portance. It contained one store and no tavern. The 
latter inconvenience, however, was remedied by Mr. 
Mclntire, who, for public accommodation rather than for 
private emolument, opened a house of entertainment. It 
is due to Mr. Mclntire and his lady to say that their ac- 
commodations, though in a log-cabin, were such as to 
render their house the travellers' home. Prior to that 
lime there were several grog-shops where travellers might 
stop, and after partaking of a rude supper, they could 
epread their blankets and bear-skins on the floor, and 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEKIDAJS". 19 

Bleep with their feet to the fire. But the opening of Mr. 
Mclntire's house introduced the luxury of comfortable 
beds, and although his board was covered with the fruits 
of the soil and the chase, rather than the luxuries of 
foreign climes, the fare was various and abundant. 

*' The first hotel at Zanesville stood at what is now 
the corner of Market and Second Streets, a few rods 
from the river, in an open maple grove, without any 
underbrush ; it was a pleasant spot, well shaded with 
trees, and in full view of the falls. Louis Philippe, the 
former king of France, was once a guest of Mr. Mclntire. 
The Hon. Lewis Cass, in his ' Camp and Court of Louis 
Philippe,' thus alludes to the circumstance : ' At Zanes- 
ville the party found the comfortable cabin of Mr. 
Mclntire, whose name has been preserved in the king's 
memory, and whose house was a favorite place of rest 
and refreshment for all the travellers who, at this early 
period, were compelled to traverse that part of the 
country. And if these pages should chance to meet the 
eyes of any of those who, like the writer, have passed 
many a pleasant hour under the roof of this uneducated, 
but truly worthy and respectable man, he trusts they will 
unite in this tribute to his memory.' 

" In 1804, when the Legislature passed an act estab- 
lishing the county of Muskingum, the commissioners ap- 
pointed to select the site for the county seat, reported in 
favor of Zanesville. The buildings were yet few in nun> 



20 LIFE OF QENEEAL SHERIDAN. 

ber, and the streets and lots were principally covered with 
the native growth ; but the citizens, in order to put on the 
best appearance possible, turned out, while Zanesville 
was yet a candidate (if we may so speak) for the county 
Beat, and cut out the bushes from some of the principal 
streets, 'and especially from the public square, that the 
situation might appear to the best possible advantage in 
the eyes of the commissioners. An anecdote may serve 
to convey some idea of the difficulties of frontier life ; it 
may also show that vice and crime were not less scorned 
then than in later days. After the organization of the 
county, but before the erection of any public buildings, 
two men were apprehended on a charge of counterfeiting 
silver dollars. It was impracticable to send them to the 
jail at Marietta, a distance of sixty miles through the 
woods, until the next term of court, to which they were 
bound over. To turn them loose or permit them to 
escape would encourage others to depredate in like man- 
ner ; it was necessary, therefore, that they should be pun- 
ished. Under these circumstances, Mr. Mclntire called 
on Daniel Convers, and in strong language stated his 
views, adding, ' We must take them in charge and keep 
them until court.' This was contrary to law ; but as 
necessity knows no law, the justice was persuaded to 
surrender them to Mclntire and Convers, as they pledged 
themselves that if the prisoners were not forthcoming at 
the hour of trial, they would take their places and abide 



LIFE OF GENEKAL SHEKIDAN. 21 

the penaltj. After conducting them to a cabin selected 
for the purpose, and putting handcuifs on them, they 
were addressed by Mclntire, who, axe in hand, stood by 
the door. ' Now, boys,' said he, pointing to the blankets 
provided for their bed, ' there is your bed ; with your 
guilt or innocence we have nothing to do — you shaU 
have plenty to eat and to drink ; but,' added he, raising 
his right arm in a threatening manner, ' if you attempt 
to escape I'll kill you.' The firm, resolute manner of the 
address, deterred them from making the attempt. Mcln- 
tire, with his axe by his side, took his seat by the door, 
and here, day after day and night after night, did he and 
his associates watch the prisoners, until the term of court 
arrived, when they were tried and convicted. One con- 
fessed his crime, and told where their tools were secreted, 
about eighteen miles off, on the rocky fork of the Lick- 
ing, where they were found and brought into court. 
Agreeably to the law then in force, he was sentenced to 
receive twenty-five lashes, well laid on, and to stand 
committed until all costs were paid. The other was to 
receive thirty-nine lashes, and also to be recommitted. 
Their sentence was immediately carried into effect as to 
the stripes, which were well applied by Mr. Beymer, 
the sheriff. After having been recommitted to their 
prison, they were left on parole of honor, and their 
guards once more retired to their beds, free from care. 
Next morning, to the great gratification of all, it was 



22 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 

found,, notwithstauding their promise to the contrary, 
they were among the missing, their handcuffs having 
been carefully laid away for the use of their successors. 
Mr. Mclntire, the founder and patron of Zanesville, was 
indefatigable in his attention to the interests of the town, 
no personal or pecuniary sacrifice being considered too 
great, in his anxiety to promote its prosperity. Zanes- 
ville has long been regarded as one of the principal towns 
in the State, and once bid fair to yield the palm only to 
Cincinnati. But the extensive internal improvements of 
the State have built up her rivals, while they have cut off, 
to some extent, her trade, and checked the rapidity of 
her growth." 

Here you might have seen Sheridan, then in his 
" teens," daily driving a water-cart, a faithful, intelligent 
youth, when he attracted the attention of the member of 
Congress from that district. An elder brother, who had 
some influence politically, interested himself in " Phil's" 
possible appointment to a cadetship in the Military 
Academy at West Point. The young cartman had other 
friends also, and in 1848 he was selected by the Congress- 
man for examination to enter that institution. He passed 
the ordeal and was admitted to the institution. The grad- 
uates of the Academy cherish the remembrance of the 
scenery around it, unsurpassed in variety and grandeur, 
more fondly than they do that of the discipline within it. 

Of hothf however, a more complete description may be 



\JFE OF GENEEAL SHERIDAN. 23 

desired by the young reader, not only because nearly all 
of our greatest generals of the civil war were graduates — 
and you will thus read substantially their history there — 
but some of you may yet go there, to know the truth of 
the sketches for yourselves. And I do not know of a 
finer description in its fidelity than that given by the 
Kev. Dr. D wight, in 1778, afterwards President of Yale 
College, and then Chaplain in the Revolutiouary War, 
and stationed at West Point. This fact gives the pen- 
picture peculiar interest. The " house deserted by its 
inhabitants," he refers to, was the Beverly House, taken 
by the Government from Colonel Beverly Robinson, a 
Scotchman, because he joined the loyalists against the 
rising republic. 

Wrote the excellent and distinguished D wight : — "Yes- 
terday afternoon, in company with Major Humphreys I 
went up to the summit of Sugar Loaf — a mountain near 
Colonel Robinson's house. We ascended it with some 
difficulty, from the steepness of the acclivity, and from 
the loose stones, which frequently sliding from under our 
feet, exposed us to imminent hazard of falling. From 
the summit we were presented with an extensive and 
interesting prospect, comprising the objects which I have 
heretofore mentioned, and inany others which I had 
never seen. The point of view was remarkably happy ; 
the mountain being so situated as to bring within our 
reach the greatest number of objects in the surrounding 



24 LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

region, and to exhibit them to the highest advantage. 
What is almost a singularity, there was not a cheerful 
object within our horizon. Every thing which we beheld 
was majestic, solemn, wild, and melancholy. 

" The northern division of our prospect was almost 
entirely bounded by two great mountains, named Butter 
Hill and Breakneck ; the former on the west, the latter 
on the east side of the Hudson. Both abut so directly 
upon the river ,^ that their rude lofty cliflPs form a part of 
its banks. These mountains ascend at the distance of 
perhaps six miles from the spot where we surveyed them 
and extend northward to the valley of Fishkill. 

" From Breakneck stretches a range of inferior mag- 
nitude, at the distance of half a mile, one, and two miles 
from the eastern shore of the Hudson ; the ground be- 
tween them and the river being generally level, and 
capable of cultivation. It contains a small number of 
other houses besides that of Col. Robinson. Of this 
range Sugar Loaf is the termination, its southern limit 
being the river. 

" Still eastward of this range ascend others, termi- 
nating also on the Hudson. The southernmost, which 
is in sight on the eastern side, and indeed the southern"- 
most of the whole cluster, is Anthony's nose ; a ncble 
bluff, whose cliffs rise almost perpendicularly from the 
water's edge to the height of perhaps 1,500 feet, with a 
sublimity which I believe is not often rivalled. 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 25 

" On the western side runs a rude range of moun- 
tains, commencing at Butter Hill, and terminating, to 
the eye, at a point, opposite to Anthony's Nose. The 
three loftiest summits in the range are the Crow's Ne^t, 
a fine sharp cone Bear Hill, and the Donderbarrak, c.r 
Thunder Hill. At the foot of these commences a pla'u, 
of no great breadth ; if I may be permitted to call that 
a plain which, while it approaches generally toward a 
level surface, is undulating, rocky, and wild, throughout a 
great part of its extent. This tract reaches northward to 
West Point, and southward near to Anthony's Nose. 
Directly north, the Hudson, here a mile in breadth, and 
twice as wide higher up, is seen descending from a great 
distance, and making its way between the magnificent 
cliffs of the two great mountains, Butter Hill and Break- 
neck. The grandeur of this scene defies description. 
Through the opening here called the Wey-gat, or Wind- 
gate, because the wind often blows through it with great 
violence, is visible the cultivated country at New Wind- 
sor, throughout a considerable extent. Beyond this, at 
the distance of about forty miles, rise the Cattskill Moun- 
tains, whose blue summits were at this time lost in the 
clouds. In this reach of the river lies an island, to the 
eye a mere bird's nest ; and near it were two boats, re- 
sembling in size those which children make of paper. 

" South of these two mountains the river bends be- 
tween West Point and Fort Constitution, and for a short 



26 LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

space is invisible. Thence it becomes visible again, and 
continues in sight till the prospect is terminated by An- 
thony's Nose on the eastern, and Bear Hill on the west- 
ern side. 

" Directly opposite to us was a mill stream, which, 
swollen at this time by the dissolving snows, poured a 
large sheet of foam, white as snow, over a high ledge 
of rocks into the Hudson. In other circumstances this 
object would have been beautiful ; now it only enhanced 
the general solemnity and grandeur, by filling the neigh- 
boring region with a loud sound, resembling the distant 
roar of the ocean. This sound was apparently echoed by 
the numerous torrents which were everywhere rushing 
down the mountains. 

" Beneath us was a house, deserted by its inhabitants, 
a family possessed, a little while since, of all the enjoy- 
ments which this life can furnish ; intelligent, refined,* and 
amiable. It is deserted, not improbably to be seen by 
them no more. Whether the father acted wisely or un- 
v/isely, defensibly or indefensibly, I am not interested to 
inquire. Against the mother and the children, even prej- 
udice can bring no allegation. 

" Southward, at the distance of perhaps four miles, 
were the ruins of Fort Montgomery. Here more than 
one hundred of our countrymen became victims, a few 
months since, to the imprincipled claims of avarice and 
ambition. * * * Northward, at about the same dis- 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 27 

tance, was West Point, where the same scenes of slaugh- 
ter may not improbably be soon acted over again. 

'* It is a remarkable fact, that the Hudson should 
have found so fine and safe a bed in a country so 
rough, and between banks so often formed of mountains 
or high hills, and to so great an extent abutting upon it 
in precipices of a stupendous height. Yet even through 
the highlands its navigation is perfectly uninterrupted. . . . 
There is a grandeur in the passage of this river through 
the highlands, unrivalled by any thing of the same nature 
within my knowledge. At its entrance particularly, and 
its exit, the mountains ascend with stupendous precipices 
immediately from the margin of its waters, appearing as 
if the chasm between them had been produced by the 
irresistible force of this mighty current, and the interven- 
ing barrier, at each place, had been broken down, and 
finally carried away into the ocean. These cliffs hang 
over the river, especially at its exit from the mountains, 
with a wdld and awful sublimity, suited to the grandeur 
of the river itself; which, speedily after it escapes from 
these barriers, expands its current to the breadth of three 
miles, and soon after to that of four, and pours a vast 
stream two miles wide, and sufficiently deep to waft a 
seventy-four gun ship, until it is lost in the bay of New 
York." 

Only a good common school education is required for 
admission to the academy, with physical soundness, the 



28 . LITE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 

required age, which is not less than sixteen years, nor 
over twenty-one, and the proper height, which must be 
five feet or more. Each cadet signs an agreement to 
serve eight years in the army of the United States, and 
obey all the rules of the institution. 

The course of instruction, which occupies four years, 
embraces military tactics, natural sciences, mathematics, 
French, history, and other English studies, and drawing ; 
to the latter of which great attention is paid. The oldest 
class is called the first, the next the second, and so on. 

The commencement is on the 1st of July. During 
this and the following month the cadets have the encamp- 
ment, of which you will have a glimpse from one of their 
number. The daily allowance of time for study is not 
less than nine, nor more than ten hours. 

The annual examination of classes commences on the 
first Monday in June, before an Academic Board, which 
consists of the superintendent and professors, with a 
Board of Visitors appointed by tie Secretary of War. 
A careful record of every recitation is kept, and in the 
Annual Register is pubhshed a conduct-roll — a complete 
statement of the violations of rules. 

There are seven grades of crime, whose mark of de- 
merit is from 1 to 10. To give an illustration: absence 
from reveille roll-call is 3 ; bringing ardent spirits into 
barracks, 8. When the number of demerits in a year 



I 



Lp'E OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 29 

exceeds 200, the cadet is recommended to the War De* 
partment for expulsion from the Academy. 

The cadets are allowed but one absence during the 
four years' course, usually at the end of the second 
year, and during July and August. But only a quarter 
of the whole number can go at any one time, and none 
whose demerit is over 150 for the preceding twelve 
months. 

The dress, which is gray, is a coatee, white drilling 
pants, white gloves, and black dress cap. 

The punishments for misconduct are of three kinds : 
Privation of recreation^ extra tours of guard duty^ repri- 
mands or confinement to room or tent ; confinement in light 
or dark prison; and dismission with the privilege of re- 
signing^ or public dismission. 

The superintendent can inflict the first variety of 
punishment, and a court-martial the second. Disobedi- 
ence and disrespect toward officers and instructors, ex- 
poses the offender to expulsion. 

Card playing, and the use of intoxicating drinks, are 
forbidden. The following irregularities are punishable 
with severe penalties : All cooking in barracks or in 
camp ; damaging or selling public property ; absence 
from quarters, and visiting in study hours, and at night ; 
answering for another at roll-call ; encouraging or pro- 
voking duels, and ungentlemanly conduct ; combinations 
against authority ; publishing accounts of the Academy, 



30 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAK. 

or of transactions in the Institution ; receiving money or 
supplies from home ; absence from duty ; neglect of 
study ; disregard of the Sabbath ; profanity ; taking a 
newspaper without permission ; having other dress than 
that prescribed ; lending accoutrements ; throwing any 
thing from the windows and doors in barracks ; having a 
light burning after 10 p. m. ; running ; loud talking, and 
scuffling in barracks ; receiving strangers in barracks in 
study hours. The cadets are not allowed to pass over 
the road surrounding the plain of West Point (including 
the sidewalk), without special permission. On Satur- 
day afternoons, and during the encampment on other 
days, leave can be obtained to walk upon certain parts of 
the public lands, including Mount Independence and 
Crow's Nest. 

No cadet can visit any family, except on Saturday 
afternoon, without a written invitation and the special 
permission of the superintendent, or go to the hotel 
without a written permit specifying the time of the visit, 
and the name of the persons on whom he may wish to 
call. No cadet can enter any room or hall of the hotel 
except the hall and drawing-rooms of the first story, or 
when there take dinner or any other meal. 

The cadets are allowed twenty-eight dollars a month 
each ; of which sum about one-half is required for board, 
and the remainder is credited to him, or may be expended 
for clothing, books, and furniture ; two dollars of the 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEmAN. 31 

amount are reserved for a fund to defray the expenses of 
uniform, when the graduated cadet is promoted. In four 
years there accumulates a purse of one hundred dollars- 
sufficient to give the young officer a handsome *' fitting 
out " for the field. 

In the summer-time there is daily drill, excepting 
Saturdays, after 4 p. m., and a dress parade at sunset, 
and parade and inspection every Sunday morning before 
church. The cadets are firemen also, drilled to the use 
of engines, and called out when the alarm of fire is 
sounded. 

You will be amused with the order of business : 
" BeveiUe" at 5 a. m. in summer and 6 in winter. 
Roll-call immediately after. Then cleaning arms and 
accoutrements. Inspection of rooms thirty minutes after 
roll-caU. This is followed by study of the lessons to be 
recited durinoj the mornins^. 

At 7 A. M. the signal for breakfast is given. *' Troop** 
and guard-mounting ai i:;ilf-past 7. Morning parade at 8 
(in camp). 

From 8 a. m. to 1 p. m., recitation and study. 
Dinner at 1. He creation until 2. 
From 2 to 4 p. m. recitation, or study, or drawing. 
After 4, military exercises for an hour or longer, and 
recreation. At sunset, eveuing parade. Supper imme- 
diately after. Call to quarters 30 minutes after supper. 
From that time till half-past 9, study. •' Tattoo,** a pre- 



S2 LIFE OF GENEEAL SHEKEDAN. 

paratory signal at half-past 9. Lights extinguished and 
inspection of rooms at the signal " Taps" at 10 p. m. 

As the studies are not pursued during the encamp- 
meit, the hours allotted to recitations and study are then 
devoted to recreation or military drill, and the evenings 
to merry making in the dancing parties and in other 
amusements. 

The arrangements are such that, besides numerous 
inspection.^ by the army " officer in charge," and the 
cadet " officer of the day," there are at least four roll- 
calls daily. 

The first immediately after reveille. 

The second immediately before breakfast. 

The third immediately before dinner. 

The fourth immediately before evening parade, and 
other roll-calls for recitation and drill. If any cadet is 
absent from one of these roll-calls unexcused and not on 
duty, the fact is immediately reported, and a careful 
watch kept until he reappears. 

The same systematic order prevails throughout every 
thing that is done. The different sections march in silence 
to and from their recitatiorvs under the charge of the best 
of their number as sqa&d marcher. The companies also 
march to the mess-hall, " with slow and solemn tread," 
and there take their seats in regular order, preserving a 
constant silence. 

As the dress-j arade occurs daily, it may be well to 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 33 

give SiDme description and explanation of the form of pro- 
ceeding : 

" At the proper time the band assembles on the regi- 
mental parade, and each company tm^ns out under arms 
on its own parade for roll-call and inspection. Soon after, 
the signal is given for the companies to march to the regi- 
mental parade, where they form in the order of battle, 
with the officers at their posts and the Adjutant on the 
i-aght of the line. The senior officer present, usually an 
instructor of tactics, takes a position at a considerable 
distance in front, opposite the centre and facing the line. 
The Adjutant then orders the music, which is on his 
right, to " beat off," when the band, beginning to play, 
march forward a few paces, then along the front of the 
line till they have passed the whole length, when they 
wheel and return to their former position, and give a 
salute. At this moment the flag is lowered and the even- 
ing-gun fired. The roar of the cannon is echoed and re- 
echoed, as if each hill for miles was uttering its response 
to the signal, and repeating the watchword to its neighbor. 

" After the return of the band the Adjutant steps for- 
ward and commands — Attention ! — Shoulder Arms ! — 
Prepare to open ranks! — To the rear, open order! — 
March ! — Bight — Dress I As these commands are 
given, the ranks assume a different appearance, the com- 
missioned officers all marching forward several paces, 
and the non-commissioned officers falling back m the rear, 
3 



34 LIFE OF GENEKAL SHEEIDAN. 

The Adjutant seeing the whole properly arninged and 
ordering Front ! then marches along the front to the 
centre, faces to the right, and passes eight or ten paces 
before the line of company officers, when he comes to the 
right about and gives the word Present — Arms ! Wlien 
he sees this executed, the officers saluting, he faces the 
commanding officer, salutes and reports ' the parade is 
formed.' He then is ordered to take his post, which he 
does by marching around the rear of the commander, and 
standing on his left. The commanding officer acknowl- 
edges the salute of the line by touching his hat, and 
drawing his sword commands Shoulder Arms ! He then 
adds such exercises as he thinks proper, concluding with 
Order Arms ! The Adjutant being then told to receive 
the reports, passes back to his former position in front of 
the line, and commands. First Sergeants, to the front and 
centre, March ! At the first order the first sergeant 
of each company shoulders arms, marches two paces to 
the front and faces inwards. At the second command 
they march to the centre of the line and halt. The Ad- 
jutant then orders Front — Face ! — Report ! At the last 
word each in succession, beginning at the right, reports 
the result of the roll-call previously made on the company 
parade. These reports are usually in the form, ' Cotti- 
pany A present or accounted for,' and so on with com- 
panies B, C, and D. Sometimes ' Two privates absent 
from Company A J is the report. 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 35 

" The Adjutant again commands, First Sergeants^ out- 
ward — Face ! To your posts — March ! And they re- 
sume their places. The Adjutant, turning to the com- 
manding officer, salutes, and gives the result of the First 
Sergeants' reports. He is then directed to read his or- 
ders, and, facing about, he announces Attention to Orders^ 
and reads such general orders as may have been commu- 
nicated to him. These having been read, he again faces 
the commanding officer, salutes, and reports that the or- 
ders are read, when, on an intimation from the com- 
mander, he faces again to the line, and announces The 
Parade is dismissed.* All the officers now return their 
swords, face inwards, and close on the Adjutant, who 
takes the centre. He then gives the word Front — Face ! 
Forward — March ! and they march forward with music 
till within six paces of the commanding officer, when 
they halt, and salute by raising the hand to the cap, re- 
maining in that position while he communicates such 
instructions as he may have to give, or by returning the 
salute intimates that the ceremony is finished. As the 
officers disperse, the First Sergeants close the ranks of 
their respective companies, and march them to the com- 

* A writer in Ntles Register^ September, 1815, says : " Before the 
parade is dismissed the companies are drawn up in an open square, 
and an evening prayer is delivered by the chaplain." This custom 
has for a long time been dispensed with, and no practice of the kind 
exists at present. 



36 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 

pany parades, where they are dismissed ; the band con- 
tinuing to play until the companies clear the regimental 
parade-ground. 

" The mprning parade, at 8 A. M., during the encamp- 
ment only, is followed by the ceremony of guard-mount- 
ing, and is like the evening parade, except the firing of 
the cannon." 

With a diploma the cadet is ready for promotion, be- 
ginning second lieutenant ; or, if there be no vacancy, 
brevet second lieutenant — a complimentary position till a 
regular appointment can be made. 

I cannot give a better impression of the experience of 
the young gentlemen there, than you will get from a letter 
written me many years since by a cadet who graduated a 
year before the western boy entered, and died a colonel in 
the Union ranks soon after the civil war opened its awful 
tragedy. The letter was written during the summer en- 
campment annually established for the cadets, that they 
may learn something of out-door military life. But how 
different, you will say, from the actual experience in our 
terrible war : 

" Camp Spencer (West Point), June 25, 1842. 

*' My dear Friend : I sometimes feel lonely among 

a multitude. I know you have experienced the same 

feeling and know the sonsation produced by so singular 

an incongruity. Frequently, while undergoing the ' ter- 



LIFE OF GENERAL SnERIDAN. 37 

rible drill," my body moves mechanically — my though ta 
are Avith the loved ones far away. I am sitting in my 
tent, on a locker, with my paper lying on a tent-stool, 
while music, and dancing, and talking, and laughing, 
and every species of noise is around me — as it is recre- 
ation hour. There are about one hundred tents pitched. 
The 'dreaded' examination has passed, and fifteen 
'' found ^ but I am not among the number ; for, strange 
to say, I did not miss a question. We were taken to the 
hospital, stripped to nudity, and strictly examined. Study 
here is different from most institutions, and you are re- 
ported for every thing under the sun. Had you been 
here last night you would have seen about half of our 
class going to the ' guard tent.' The way they do it is, 
for the sentinel to fling tent-pins at a tent. Then the com- 
mandant calls out, ' Stop that noise !' ' Corporal guard* 
No. 5, 6, or as the case may be. The guard comes down, 
gets you up, and marches you off to the guard-tent. As I 
tent with H. 1 have not got in. We are allowed in tent 
two blankets, one pillow, one stool each, and to each tent 
one pail, one dipper, one basin, one looking glass, and 
one locker or box to put things in. A little bcfbrc sun- 
rise the morning gun is fired, the drums beat, and cry 
given, ' Fall in there ' A company — G, C, D, do. The roll 
is then called, and a fellow has then thirty minutes to roll 
up his blankets, sweep up liis tent, and be prepared for 
morning inspection. We are then called out to drill an 



88 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEmAN. 

hour and a quarter, marched hack, dismissed for ten 
minutes, then marched to breakfast, which is potatoes and 
meat mixed, bread, butter, and coffee. We have about ten 
minutes in which to eat, and then back again, and drilled 
from eleven to twelve. Dinner at one — ^beef, potatoes, and 
bread. Dress parade at five P. M., and guard-mounting 
at eight a. m. At every parade the boots must be blacked, 
but you are not allowed to do it yourself. Supper con- 
sists of bread, butter, and tea, etc. I cannot tell you half 
for want of room and time. They put candles round a 
hollow square in the evening, and dance till ' taps.' Of 
course I stay in my tent. I like the whole of it, but it is 
hard work. We have a great many visitors. What scenery, 
what a place ! There are many who have graduated with 
honor and studied through the course ; so of course it will 
be hard for me, but I shall not he at the foot of the class" 

A week later the cadet wrote : 

" When on parade we must keep our ' heads directly 
to the front,' with our ' eyes on the ground fifteen paces 
in front,' consequently a thousand ladies and gentlemen 
might be in front, about six rods (and there are some 
hundreds generally), without our ever seeing any thing 
but their forms. Indeed, when Governor Seward was 
here the other day, he was within five rods of me, in 
front, and I did not see him. You say you felt ' West 
Pointish' on the Fourth. You would have felt strangely 
had you been here. Three boat-loads came up the river, 



r 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEErUAN. 39 

and I don't know how many down. Tlic Point was 
alive ; for my part, with a friend, I declared war, as all 
do on the Fourth, on the regulations, and taking the 
woods for a shelter from the eyes of lookouts, ransacked 
the ' crags ' in search of new discoveries, and even on the 
summit of Mount Independence and Redoubt Hill we 
found ladies and gentlemen without number. How they 
ever got up is a mystery. It would take an abler and 
more military pen than mine to describe the ball-room 
and proceedings, so I shall not attempt it. I did not at- 
tend the ball. The music kept me awake aU night. Oh ! 
I wish you could be here one night. In front of the 
tents they form a large hollow square, with candles, and 
then dance as if victory or death depended upon the re- 
sult. While in another part,^nd in the midst of the tents, 
the band — the best in the United States by the way — 
with Kendall for its leader, is giving utterance to the best 
pieces, with melody thrilling every heart. The effect is 
wonderful. You ga^e almost bewildered to see the uni- 
forms passing with the rapidity of thought, while ladies 
from every part are walking in the line where light and 
shadow meet. Behind, the sentinels are but just dis- 
tinguished, and to many, as they look back and see the 
summits overhead, the grim challenge (which I some- 
times giv^e) of ' Who goes there ? Halt ! advance and 
give the countersign,' is startling. I could give you 
many laughable incidents of fellows scared out of their 



4:0 LIFE OF GENEEAL SHEEIDAN. 

wits by a charge of the bayonet, thinking that their 
last hour was surely come. It is surprising how you 
can use such needless luxuries as chairs, tables, beds, and 
overcoats ! My health was never better. The examin- 
ation was more severe this year on account of so many 
petitions to abolish the Academy. An order was read last 
night that all must wear the dimity pants ; almost all 
have eight or ten pair of white linen. I will give you a 
little specimen of what our personal appearance must be. 
I yesterday changed my pants four times, had my boots 
blacked four times, and scoured my gun all my spare 
time, and then got ' skinned' for not having my bayonet 
bright enough ; then think of polishing trimmings, keep 
ing the beard short, gloves jperfectly white, and see if it 
will not make a nice fellow of me ! '* 

June, 1853, Cadet Sheridan graduated brevet second 
lieutenant in the United States Infantry. In his course 
of study he ranked high, even with such classmates as 
the gallant and lamented McPheFson, Major-General 
Schofield, Brigadier-Generals Terrill, Sill, and Tyler. 
The famous rebel General Hood was also with him in 
all the discipline of those four years, preparing, they all 
supposed, for honorable service in behalf of a common 
country ; but how melancholy the record of the war in 
connection with that of the Academy ! 

The autumn of 1853 found Lieutenant Sheridan on 
his way to Fort Duncan, Texas, where his regiment was 



LITE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 41 

stationed. This fortification is on the Rio Grande, the 
■western border of Texas, between Fort Clark on the 
north and Fort Mcintosh on the south, and not far from 
Eagle Pass. You will see that it is away beyond civilized 
society, and that across the river is Mexico with her 
savage tribes. It was in this wild and perilous country 
Sheridan, just past his majority, went to take his first 
lessons in practical military service. 



CHAPTER n. 

Tie Camanches and Apaches— The Border Warfare— A Snrpiise anu Battle- 
Heroic Conduct — Unpleasant Collision with his Commander — Seeks a new 
Field of Service- Ordered to Oregon — Repairs to Ne\T Tork to Sail— As- 
signed to command Fort Wood- 

\EXICO, lying across the Rio Grande, had then, 
as now, a mixed population of Indians, Ne- 
groes, Creoles, Miilattoes, Zambos, and other 
races. The Indians lived on the table lands, 
from which they came down upon the frontier 
settlements to plunder them. More than twenty different 
languages are spoken in Mexico. The forts were tlie 
castles of the little garrisons, from which thej sallied 
forth to drive back the invading bands, and guard the 
emigrants who had pushed out on the border-land of 
freedom and civilization — the brave pioneers of our ag- 
gressive Yankee nation. The Apache and Camanche 
Indians are very warlike and independent tribes, and 
have ever been the terror of the colonists within their 
reach. They are implacable enemies of ihQ Spaniards, 




LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 43 

who attempted to reduce them to slavery by appropriating 
to such servitude their prisoners of war. But the wily, 
fearless captives got away from their masters and re- 
turned to their mountain wigwams. The Spaniards then 
sent them to Cuba, where, from change of climate and 
broken spirits, they soon perished. The Indians now re- 
solved that no more prisoners should be taken — ^no quar- 
ter would be asked or given in battle. 

From that time no captives were taken unless sur- 
prised while asleep, or so wounded that resistance was 
fruitless. Their principal weapon originally was the 
bow and arrow. Their " arrows were three feet long, 
made of reed or cane, into which was sunk a piece of 
hard wood, pointed with ii'on, bone, or stone. They shot 
them with such force that at the distance of two hundred 
paces they could pierce a man When the attempt was 
made to draw the arrow from the wound, the wood de- 
tached itself, and the point remained in the body. The 
next weapon was the lance, fifteen feet long. "When they 
charged the enemy they held this lance in both hands 
above their heads, and at the same time guided their 
horse by pressing him with their knees. Many of them 
used firelocks, which, as well as the ammunition, were 
taken from the Spaniards, who never sell them any. 
The archers and fusileers combated on foot, but the 
lancers always on horseback. Nothing can equal the 
impetuosity and address of their horsemen. They were 



4:4 LIFE OF GENEEAL SHEEIDAN. 

thunderbolts, whose stroke it was impossible to parry 
or escape." 

Such was the general character of the enemies Lieu- 
tenant Sheridan and his comrades had to contend with in 
Texas. Nor is the hatred of the aborigines toward the 
Spaniard and the white man strange to one who knows 
the history of robbery, treaty-breaking, and manifold 
abuses to which they have been subjected. And here 1 
must give you a part of an eloquent address I heard from 
Bishop Whipple, of the 'West, in the hall of the University 
of Philadelphia, when a delegation of Sioux sat by his 
side on the platform. All hearts were thrilled by the 
strong. Christian, and yet indignant appeal of the bishop. 
lie said : 

" There were periods in every man's history when 
events operating upon his mind would give him a deeper 
sense of God's providence. The wrongs of the red men 
are forming a bitter portion of the cup of anguish that 
God is holding to the lips of this nation. Day by day 
these men redeemed by the blood of Christ are sinking 
into graves dug by the white men. To hold out words 
of cheer, and to extend acts of comfort to these hapless, 
unfortunate people, constitute a mission of divinest mercy. 
To teach these men religion, witli its blessings and its 
glories, has been and is now the task of the ministry of 
Christ. There are strange facts connected with the In- 
dian country. The North American Indian is the only 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 45 

heathen on the face of the earth who is not an idolater. 
They always recognize with reverence the name and 
power of the Great Spirit. 

" The testimony of every man who ever knew the 
nature of the Indians before they were brought into rela- 
tion with the Government, is that the red men never dealt 
in double dealing. General Sibley, who for a long time 
was the frontier agent, says he never locked his house at 
night, and that at times w^hen he had twenty thousand 
dollars in silver in his house. He had often come down 
stairs and found twelve or fifteen Indians grouped in the 
lower rooms. Yet never was his house violated, and 
never was a theft conamitted. The Maiden Feast, a fes- 
tival among the Indians, is held yearly, and no girl can 
escape the condemnation of her tribe unless her life has 
been one of unsullied virtue. And every maiden in the 
Indian tribes of the northwest, away from the border 
where the white men teach the red men vice and crime, 
is required to attend this feast, and if her character is 
stained or impure, the condemnation of the whole tribe is 
visited upon her. 

" The English Government has never expended a dol- 
lar in Indian wars ; has never lost a man by Indian mas- 
sacres. No better men submit to English rule than the 
red men of the Hudson Bay region and along the St. 
Lawrence. Our own dealings with the Indians have 
been a mixture of robberies and mistakes. American 



46 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 

slavery never held to the lips of the black men the \»'K)ug!i 
and bitterness that the treatment of the red men has held 
to their lips. The utmost wrong has been done the In- 
dians by the treaties made with them. In the interpre- 
tation which is carried on, the misrepresentations and 
misstatements which are made deprive the tribes of all 
their rights. If this false interpretation fails, the greatest 
bribery is resorted to ; and if an Indian is killed, if he is 
openly murdered in the streets of a western city, there is 
no redi'ess to the Indians. While they are non-citizens 
of the country, no more notice is taken of the dead 
man than there would be if one swine had killed 
another. 

" Our Government recognizes all the bad claims which 
are made against the Indians. The Winnebagoes were 
lately removed from Minnesota. The reason urged was 
that the people were in terror. The fact is that the Sioux 
sent a delegation to the Winnebagoes inviting them to join 
in the massacre, and so firm was their friendship for the 
whites that the messengers were murdered on the spot. 
But the Winnebagoes occupied the most beautiful part of 
Minnesota, and they were removed. Out of the twenty- 
two hundred who were taken away six hundred have al- 
ready died, and the rest must inevitably perish. They 
have no rights and no redress, unless they resort to the 
requital of the savage and avenge the insult by the blood 
of the injured race. A woman of unquestioned chastity 



LIFE OF GENERAL SnEEffiAN. 47 

was killed within a rod of the speaker's mission house, 
and when the agent was appealed to he shrugged his 
shoulders and said he had nothing to do with it. She 
died, the victim of violence ; but she was an Indian, and 
no notice was taken of it, 

" The Indians, whenever appealed to, gladly received 
the religion of Jesus ; and the converted red men, at the 
risk of their lives, protected the whites in the recent war. 
The chief of one of the civilized tribes delivered two hun- 
dred white captives to Governor Sibley. The Sioux 
treaty was framed in fraud and deception. The chiefs 
were deceived in reference to its provisions, and when 
they refused to sign it, immense sums of money were ex- 
pended to bribe the chieftains to sign it ; and after they 
received the money they were intoxicated, and the money 
stolen from their blankets. The treaty stipulated for the 
payment of large sums of money to the Sioux, reserving 
only seventy thousand dollars to pay the honest debts of 
the Indians. These honest debts were the claims of dis- 
honest and rapacious traders, and yet four years after the 
treaty no money had been paid to the Indians. The with- 
holding of this annuity money led to the fearful massacre 
on the border that followed. And after the massacre, the 
incidents are on record and can be proved that Indians 
who never saw a white man during the massacre were 
hung, and Indians who were acquitted were hung before 
their release could be effected. There is no justice for 



iS LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

the red man from the time he meets the white man until 
he sinks into the grave. 

" The Christian Indians had, at the time of the mas- 
sacre, land producing crops valued at one hundred and 
twenty thousand dollars. Now they not only have had 
these all destroyed, but they have been removed to the 
Upper Missouri and surrounded by hostile Indians, and 
where the soil is too poor^for cultivation, and where the 
habits of their civilized life have unfitted them for the 
hunting of the buffalo and subsistence by the fruits of the 
chase." 

And I have heard the wMte^ refined, and devout chief 
of the Cherokees, John Ross, relate by the hour the cruel 
outrages of those who have compelled his tribe to leave 
the lands which had been ceded them, and the graves of 
theLT fathers. See how Georgia, whose soil was not only 
wet with the sweat and blood of slave-toil, but which was 
preeminent in the abuse of the red race, has been swept 
by the fires of war, and her fairest gardens laid waste by 
its iron hoofs and wheels. 

Lieutenant Sheridan had ere long to try his prowess 
with the Apache warriors. One day he was outside the 
fort with two others, when a band of those savages sud- 
denly sprang upon them. The chief, not dreaming of re- 
sistance from three men amid several times their number, 
leaped from his '^ fiery mustang" to seize his prisoners. 
In an instant Sheridan was on the back of the wild 



^^ 







LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 49 

charger and galloping away to Fort Duncan. He sum- 
moned the troops to arms, seized his pistols without dis- 
mounting, and hastened back Hke a flying warrior to the 
aid of the two companions who were heroically fighting 
for life. Dashing up to the enraged chief he levelled a 
pistol at his head — " crack ! " went the little weapon, and, 
with a mad leap into the air, the Indian fell dead at the 
feet of the lieutenant's horse. The soldiers that followed 
him then came up, and the just now exulting band was 
ridden down and most of the number killed. The valiant 
deed, however, won no commendation from the command- 
ant of the fort, who seemed to have a southern prejudice 
against the eastern and western hoy. The irritated, jealous 
oflicer charged his lieutenant with breach of discipline be- 
cause he was away from his command. That commander 
has been a rebel general in the late civil war. 

For two years Sheridan was thus employed in the de- 
fence of the Southern frontier ; at one time leading a com- 
pany of soldiers to a threatened settlement, and at another 
cautiously making explorations, not knowing where the 
stealthy savage would rise from ambush, or fire his wea- 
pon from its unknown seclusion. But the unfortunate 
displeasure of his superior officer, and the collisions at- 
tending, induced Sheridan to seek a different post of duty. 
Accordingly the War Department, in the spring of 1855, 
created him full lieutenant in the Fourth Infantry, then 
in Oregon. Leaving Fort Duncan, he reached New York, 



60 LIFE OF GENEKAL SHEKIDAK. 

intending to sail immediately for the Pacific coast. But 
recruits were wanting, and while waiting for them he TN^as 
assigned to the command of Fort Wood, in New York 
harbor. The harhor is twenty-live miles in circumference. 
Its entrance from the sea is over the bar at Sandy Hook, 
where the water is more than twenty feet deep. This 
highway for ships of the largest size is between Staten 
Island on the west and Long Island on the east, is called 
the Narrows, and is one-third of a mile wide and guarded 
by strong fortifications. Governor's Island, Bedloe's and 
Ellis' Islands, near the city, have also formidable bat- 
teries. 

It was a time of peace when Lieutenant Sheridan 
was at Fort Wood, and between his visits to the city and 
round of duties there, the weeks went rapidlj away. 



CHAPTER ni. 

Lieatenant Sheridan sails for San Francisco — Immediately joins an Expedition 
into the Interior— He goes to the Tokima Country— Adventures — Battle at 
the Cascades. 

|N July, 1855, Lieutenant Sheridan's troops were 
ready to move, and he sailed with them for Cali- 
fornia. He had scarcely touched the Pacific coast 
before he was chosen to command an escort for 
Lieutenant Williamson's expedition to a branch of 
the Columbia, whose object it was to survey the proposed 
route of a branch railroad of the great Pacific Railway, 
connecting San Francisco with the Columbia River. The 
map will show you the long distance and wild country 
before the band of surve_yors and their military escort. 

All that vast country west of the Rocky Mountains is 
grand and wonderful. The Columbia River and its trib- 
utaries sweep through primeval forests, among which the 
fir rises sometimes to the height of three hundred feet — 
tall, graceful, and evergreen. The streams are limpid, 
and abound in fish. The mountains rise in solemn gran- 



62 LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

deur, rugged with granite sides and pinnacles. Beneath 
their shadow repose charming valleys, .rich in verdure 
and bloom. The climate is milder than upon the eastern 
side of the summits stretching across the Western States 
and territories. In these valleys and along the slopes 
above them are scattered Indian tribes, many of them 
justly jealous of their white visitors and the settlers on 
the coast and frontier of the States. It was a portion 
of this vast region that the company led by Sheridan 
traversed. By day observations were taken, surveys 
made, and notes written in tiie hand-books for that pur- 
pose. The toilsome work was interrupted by romantic 
and exciting scenes. The perilous crossing of the swift 
streams, the wild game, the magnificent views of nature, 
all gave an exciting and pleasing variety to the inci- 
dents of travel through the wilderness. And nobl'3 
and beautiful birds were seen and heard in the great 
solitude. 

A traveller furnishes from his note-book the record of 
a day's adventure in this primitive land of the West : 

" In the uncertain gloom my horse floundered into 
stony hollows, or, lost in the mazes of the oaks, startled 
the buzzards and mountain vultures from their roost. 
The boughs rustled, and the air was stirred by the muffled 
beat of their wings. I could see them, like unearthly, 
boding shapes, as they swooped between me and the 
stars. At last, making a hazard at the direction in which 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 53 

the trail ran, I set my course by the stars and pushed 
steadily forward in a straight line. 

" Two hours of this dreary travel passed away ; the 
moon rose, lighting up the loneliness of the wide plain, 
and the dim, silvery sweep of mountains around it I 
found myself on the verge of a steep bank, which I took 
to be an arroyo we had crossed on the outward journey. 
Getting down with some difficulty, 1 rode for more than 
a mile over the flinty bed of a lake, long since dried up 
by the summer heats. At its opposite side I plunged into 
a ghostly wood, echoing with the dismal howl of the 
wolves, and finally reached the foot of the mountains. 
The deep-sunken glen, at whose entrance I stood, had no 
familiar feature ; the tall clumps of chaparral in its bot^ 
torn seemed fit haunts for grizzly bears ; and after follow- 
ing it for a short distance, I turned about and urged my 
horse directly up the steep sides of the mountain. 

" It was now midnight, as near as I could judge by 
the moon, and I determined to go no further. I had 
neither fire-arms, matches, nor blankets — all my equip- 
ments having gone on with the pack-mule — and it was 
necessary to choose a place where I could be secure from 
the bears, the only animal to be feared. The very sum- 
mit of the mountain seemed to be the safest spot ; there 
was a single tree upon it, but the sides, for some distance 
below, were bare, and if a ' grizzly * should come up one 
side, I could dash down the other. Clambering to tliQ 



54 LIFE OF GENEKAL SHEEIDAN. 

top I tied my horse to the tree, took the saddle for a pil- 
low, and coiling into the smallest possible compass, tried 
to cover n^^yself with a square yard of saddle-blanket. It 
was too cold to sleep, and I lay for three hours with 
acJiing bones and chattering teeth, looking down on the 
vast mysterious depths of the landscape below me. I 
Bhall never forget the shadowy level of the plain, whose 
belts and spots of timber were like clouds in the wan 
light — the black mountain-gulfs on either hand, which the 
incessant yells of a thousand wolves made seem like pan- 
demonium — the far, faint shapes of the distant ranges, 
which the moonshine covered as with silver gossamer, 
and the spangled arch overhead, doubly lustrous in the 
thin air. Once or twice I fell into a doze, to dream of 
slipping off precipices and into icy chasms, and was roused 
by the snort of my horse, as he stood with raised ears, 
stretching the lariat to its full length. 

" When the morning star, which was never so wel- 
come, brought the daylight in its wake, I saddled and 
rode down to the plain. Taking a course due north, I 
started off on a gallop, and in less than an hour recovered 
(he trail. I had no difficulty in finding the beautiful 
meadow where the party was to have camped, but there 
was no trace of them to be seen ; the mules, as it hap- 
pened, were picketed behind some timber, and the men, 
not yet arisen, were buried out of sight in the rank grass. 
I rode up to some miljpas (brush-huts^ inhabited by Indians, 



LIFE OF GENEEAL SHEEroAN. 55 

aud for two reals obtained a boiled ear of corn and a melon, 
wliich somewhat relieved my chill, hungry condition." 

The escort and the engineers at length reached the 
goal of their wearisome march safely, having done well 
all that was assigned to them before they entered the 
forest. In his report to the Government, which was pub- 
lished by Congress, Lieutenant Williamson spoke in the 
highest terms of the able command of Sheridan. A glimpse 
of the history of this immense northwestern country, which 
was called Oregon, but now divided into several terri- 
tories, and which has been the field of military duty to 
several of the generals who have figured conspicuously in 
the civil war, will lend interest to the narrative of Sheri- 
dan's faithful service there. 

Twenty years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, 
D'Aguilar, commanding an expedition under PhiUp III. 
of Spain, discovered the mouth of the Columbia, but his 
story of discovery was treated by his countrymen as a 
fkble ; the darkness of profound mystery shrouded the 
lands it watered for two hundred years. 

In 1776, while our fathers were fighting for liberty, 
an English adventurer. Captain Cook, explored the coast, 
and Great Britain then claimed the vast territory. The 
Hudson's Bay Company established small trading posts 
across its solitudes. 

In 1791 Captain Vancouver made further discoveries, 
and others followed him. With our Independence the 



66 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 

spirit of enterprise went forth afresh, and our "merchant 
princes " of that period sent forth their ships on errands 
of discovery. May 7, 1792, Capt. Robert Gray threw the 
first shadow of American canvas upon the majestic river 
from the masts of the good ship Columbia, which gave to 
the waters its name. Next came the untiring and self- 
denying Lewis and Clark, sent out under Jefferson's Ad- 
ministration in August, 1805, to explore overland the 
region beyond the mountains. They pushed on amid 
perils and deprivations nearly equal to those our fore- 
fathers experienced, through the immense wilderness be- 
tween the States and the lofty heights that separate the 
Atlantic from the Pacific slope, until they reached the 
head waters of the Columbia. Then on its strange, wild, 
solitary waters, they glided down six hundred miles tow- 
ard its mouth. Afterwards they reached the ocean, and 
returned to the United States in 1806. A dozen years 
later arose the boundary question between England and 
America. The present limits of our territory, 49° north 
latitude, was at last agreed upon, June 16, 1846. 

In the early autumn of 1855 Lieutenant Sheridan 
was at Fort Vancouver, Washington Territory. Here 
Major Rains, since a general in the rebel army, planned 
an expedition against the Yokima (or, as it is also spell- 
ed, Yokima) Indians, who were troublesome to our peo- 
ple, and secured Lieutenant Sheridan's services. The 
danger of the enterprise just suited the energy and entb-j 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 57 

siasm of the young officer. Turn to the map again, and 
you will find Fort Vancouver, so named after the cele- 
brated captain and discoverer, on the Columbia River, 
not far from Columbia City, and Yokima River north 
of it, flowing southeasterly into that Father of western 
waters. The vigilance and promptness necessary in 
those Indian campaigns cannot be imagined by one who 
has known only ordinary warfare. The cunning of the 
foe, the forest hiding-places, the unsparing ferocity of 
many tribes, make self-command, clear eyed watchful- 
ness, and rapidity of action, indispensable. In such quali- 
ties Sheridan excelled, and was, therefore, successful 
during the months of marching and skirmishing which 
followed. April 28, 1856, occurred one of the severest 
encounters of the troops at the Cascades, on the Columbia, 
not very far from Fort Vancouver. The savages fought 
bravely, and Lieutenant Sheridan displayed that dashing 
and fearless courage which has so distinguished him in 
his more recent and splendid achievements. His gal- 
lantry attracted the special notice of his superior officer, 
and was mentioned flatteringly in general orders. The 
savages were defeated, and the threatened outbreak soon 
entirely suppressed. Not only for his bravery, but his 
kindly intercourse, w^as Sheridan admired by the Indians, 
and gained a powerful influence over them, unlike many 
officers, who have left only scorn and hate behind them 
upon the quick and unforgetful minds of the Aborigines. 



CHAPTER IV. 

A. new Command — Creates a Military Post — At Tokima Bay — General Scott's 
Commendation — The Wilderness Warfare — Its Discipline — The Eebellion— > 
Sheridan made Captain— Eepairs to St. Louts — ^New Duties — Quarter- 
master — A Staff Officer's estimate of Him — The Battle of Pea Eidge — Cap 
tain Sheridan and General Curtis disagree — The reason— The result. 

^ ^ /rJ^)^I)LA^ Reservation ! " Wliat a sad story of a 
fading race is this historical expression ! In 
the East and South, this last refuge of the red 
man has been taken from him by the hands of 
the " pale face," until only a few acres are left 
in his possession. At Gayhead, on Martha's Vineyard, 
Massachusetts, and in Sandwich, at Oneida, and near 
Buifalo, New York, christianized remnants are found, 
^^'llich are disappearing gradually, as all tribes vanish 
before the civilization and aggressive enterprise of the 
whites. 

To the Yokimas, after their submission to Major 
Rains, was given a beautiful valley in the coast range of 
mountains, to be the " Yokima Reservation," and share, 



LIFE OF GENEEAL SHERIDAN. 59 

before the future tide of emigration rolling in upon the 
Pacific shores, the fate of all similar compromises with a 
doomed people. Lieutenant Sheridan was appointed to 
the command of this Indian domain, and won the confi- 
dence of his wild subjects, administering their affairs to 
their satisfaction and that of the Government. Lieutenant- 
General Scott made special mention of his meritorious 
conduct in the settlement of difficulties with the turbulent 
Yokimas. During that same year, 1857, he created a 
new military post at Yamhill, southwest of Fort Van- 
couver. Then followed three years of incessant marches, 
skirmishing, and forest encampment among the Indians 
of the mountains. There you might have seen the brave 
lieutenant scaling rugged and gloomy heights, to look 
away for the smoke of a wigwam and upon a landscape 
of the wildest grandeur, and such as can be seen only in 
the primeval regions of the mighty West. Again, he 
he was plunging into a deep and silent ravine, overhung 
with ancient boughs, which admitted no more than stray 
beams of the sun. The next hour he hears the crack of 
the rifle, soon succeeded by a "brush" with the lurking 
savages. But the saddest part of the adventurous life, 
was the deprivation not unfrequently endured by the 
troops. See our lieutenant carrying his entire stock of 
provisions for fourteen days in his blanket, which was at^ 
tached to his shoulders, occasionally indulging in a bit of 
his coarse fare, until the last morsel is goue. And now 



60 LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

look at tlie spry, elastic, toughened western boy, chasing-^ 
what ? Can you guess ? He is after the grasshoppers 
that sprinkle thickly the " opening," to meet the demands 
of hunger. Thus for days together the uncomplaining, 
courageous lieutenant marches on, sleeping at night be- 
neath the massive foliage, through which the moon and 
stars faintly shone upon his bronzed face, in sound, re- 
freshing repose. While thus employed for the country he 
devotedly loved, the slaveholders* rebellion awoke the 
people with the clarion of war. Our army ranks were 
thinned by the resignations of those who preferred the 
fortunes of the southern army, leaving many vacancies in 
the command. Our hero, thoroughly disciplined for the 
hardest service, quick to discern what should be done, 
and fearless of danger, was one of the men providen- 
tially prepared for the coming years of national conflict. 
With the commission of first lieutenant, he repaired, ac- 
cording to orders, to the arena of opening strife. The 
immediate increase of the regular army prepared the way 
for his further promotion, and he was made captain. May 
14, of the Thirteenth regiment of regular infantry. The 
civil conflict began with the battle of Manassas in 
awful earnest, followed by the lull of preparation for a 
long and deadly grapple of southern hate with northern 
loyalty. * 

Captain Sheridan was waiting active duty, when, a 
few weeks later, he was ordered to join his regiment at 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 61 

Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis, Missouri. Scarcely had 
he reached his post in the early autumn of 1861, when 
he was appointed President of the Board selected to audit 
the claims which arose under the administration of Gen- 
eral Fremont in the West, a practical business affair, in 
which he maintained his characteristic urbanity, and show- 
ed ability for any service. This official position was follow- 
ed by a call to more difficult responsibilities. He was ap- 
pointed chief quartermaster and commissary of the army 
forming at the moment for operations in Southwestern 
Missouri. Of his entrance upon the wider field of action, 
and his appearance then, an admiring staff officer writes : 

*' A modest, quiet little man was our quartermaster. 
Yet nobody could deny the vitalizing energy and masterly 
force of his presence, when he had occasion to exert him- 
self. Neat in person, courteous in demeanor, exact in 
the transaction of business, and most accurate in all mat- 
ters appertaining to the regulations, orders, and general 
military custom, it was no wonder that our acting chief 
quartermaster should have been universally liked. Espe- 
cially was he in favor socially, for it soon became known 
that he was, off duty, a most genial companion, answer- 
ing the most mythical requirement of that vaguest of com- 
prehensive terms — ' a good fellow.' 

" We were assembling at Lebanon, Missouri, in tlie 
months of November and December, 1861, and, \mder 
the designation of the ' Army of the Southwest,' were 



62 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 

about to inaugurate an active campaign. It was a mark- 
ed gathering. A majority of those who used to gather 
at headquarters still aid to make glorious the national 
history. The battle-fields and victories of Keetsville, 
Pea Ridge, Sugar Creek, Cross Hollows, and many an- 
other conflict in that splendid march through northern 
and central Arkansas, have made the Army of the South- 
west renowned. 

*' The historic names which memory recalls are many. 
They have since become as ' familiar as household words.' 
Among these ofiicers, and others as gallant and gay, our 
quartermaster, Captain Phillip Henry Sheridan, made 
his bow one fine day in December, when, in obedience 
to orders from Major-General Halleck, he reported at 
Lebanon for assignment by General Curtis to duty as 
chief quartermaster of the Army of the Southwest. 
Sheridan was quite unknown to fame, though nine and a 
half years of arduous service in the regular army had 
given him a title to a more brilliant field than the one to 
which he was then assigned. To General Halleck is due 
the credit of earliest foreseeing and calling out the great 
powers of Sheridan — qualities which make his name a 
synonym for all that is daring in execution ; all that is 
superb in that tremendous dash and elan by which alone 
can a cavalry commander grandly succeed ; all that is 
heroic in the power, not only of holding on grimly when 
the tide of battle ebbs and flows most doubtingly, but also 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEKIDAN. 63 

to soe how * from the nettle danger, to pluck the flower 
safety.* 

" What forms such a character is noteworthy. Gen- 
eral Sheridan's experiences and characteristics are emi- 
nently American, and fitly and typically prelude his 
career. Not often talking of himself, he yet told enough 
to make one see how his character was crystallized. 
Every incident will serve in making up the analysis, and 
will indicate qualities upon a general view of which we 
arrive at a synthetical estimate. Such lives as Sheri- 
dan's, history treasures as types, and embalms them as 
examples. 

" We have said Captain Sheridan was modest. In 
those days he was especially so. Whenever he did allow 
his ambition to appear, it appeared to be of a moderate 
cast. ' He was the sixty-fourth captain on the list, and 
with the chances of war, thought he might soon be major.* 
Such were the terms in which the future major-general 
spoke of promotion. No visions of brilliant stars, single 
or dual, then glimmered on the horizon of his life. If he 
could pluck an old leaf and gild the same for his shoulder's 
wear, he was satisfied. If any one had suggested the 
possibility of a brigadiersbip, our quartermaster would 
have supposed it meant in irony. Yet he was even then 
recognized as a man of vigorous character. 

"The enlisted men on duty at headquarters, or in 
Uis own bureau, remember him kindly. Not a clerk or 



64 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 

orderly but treasures some act of kindness done by Cap- 
tain Sheridan. Never forgetting, or allowing others to 
forget, the respect due to him and his position, he was 
yet the most approachable officer at headquarters. His 
knowledge of the regulations and customs of the army, 
and of all professional minutiae, were ever at the disposal 
of any proper inquirer. Private soldiers are seldom al- 
lowed to carry away as pleasant and kindly associations 
of a superior, as those with which Captain Sheridan en- 
dowed us. When the army was ready to move, he gave 
his personal attention in seeing that all attached to head- 
quarters were properly equipped for service in the field, 
issuing the necessary stores, animals, etc., without diffi- 
culty or discussion. Many a man received information 
about the preparation of papers, and other matters, which 
has since been of invaluable assistance. Nor was his 
kindness confined to subordinates alone. It is easy for 
some men to be genial and kind to those under them, 
while it seems impossible to behave with the proper 
courtesy due to those whose position entitles them to con 
sideration as gentlemen. We have served with a major 
general since then, who to his soldiers was always for- 
bearing, kindly, and humane ; while to his officers, espe- 
cially those on the staff, he was almost invariably rude, 
rouo-h, blunt, and inconsiderate. This could not be said 
of Sheridan. He had that proper pride of military life, 
jvhich not alone demands, but accords to all the courtesy 



LITE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 65 

due among gentlemen. It is fair to say that no man has 
risen more rapidly with less jealousy ; if the feelings enter- 
tained by his old associates of the Army of the South- 
west are any criterion. 

" Sheridan's modesty amounted to bashfulness, espe- 
cially in the presence of the gentler sex. His life, 
having been passed on the frontier, among Indians or at 
some solitary post, it was not at all surprising that our 
quartermaster should hesitate when urged to go where 
ladies might be expected. If by chance he found himself 
in such a gathering, he w^as sure to shrink into an obscure 
corner and keep silent. We remember an amusing in- 
cident of this bashfulness. 

" He became attracted toward a young lady at Spring 
field, where he was engaged in forwarding supplies to the 
army. Desirous of showing her some attention, he was 
altogether too modest to venture on such a step. Finally 
he hit upon an expedient. He had a gay young clerk, 
Eddy, in his office, whom he induced to take the young 
lady out riding, while he (Sheridan) furnished the car- 
riage and horses. The modest little captain could often be 
Been looking with pleasure on this arrangement. Courting 
by proxy seemed to please him as much (as it certainly 
was less embarrassing) as if it had been done by himself. 
There are but few men whose modesty would carry them 
so far. What the result was we never learnt. We think 
it most probable l^ddj carried off the prize. 



66 LIFE OF GENEEAL SHEELDAN. 

" The labors of Captain Sheridan as quartermaster 
were very arduous ; in addition to which he had the 
general superintendence of the Subsistence Department. 
Every thing needed organizing. Though nine months of 
war had passed, few yet realized the stupendous char- 
acter of the struggle, or the magnitude of the preparations 
needed to meet it. Even our quartermaster feU within 
the criticism of not fully comprehending the wants of an 
army no larger than the one General Curtis commanded. 
Yet what was done, and there was a great deal of it, was 
thoroughly done. His transportation and trains were or- 
ganized. Depots were established at Rolla and Spring- 
field, and a large amount of supplies accumulated. 
While the army was moving to Pea Ridge, it was main- 
ly supplied with stores obtained from the surrounding 
country. In one respect, as quartermaster, Sheridan was 
a model. He cut down the regimental trains to the low- 
est margin then conceived possible, and in so doing won 
the cordial opposition of most regimental officers. Each 
regiment had at the time a train larger than that now ap- 
portioned by general orders to a corps. The wagons 
were often of all sizes and character, from the regula- 
tion six-muler, to the lumbering farm-wagon or spring- 
cart, pressed from the neighborhood. Sheridan changed 
all this, and compelled the turning over of all superfluous 
transportation for use in the general army train." 

The movements of General Curtis in Missouri against 



LIFE OF GENERAL BHEBIDAN. 67 

General Price involved, incidentally, Captaii, Sheridan in 
a collision with that officer. The winter-cold, and ex- 
hausting marches of our troops, had wasted the supply 
of stock ; and with a battle in prospect, General Curtis 
must have animals from the country at a distance, to meet 
the wants of the army. He therefore ordered Quarter- 
master Sheridan to secure them in the region around him, 
give the owners vouchers, and send the supplies at once. 

Just then the Illinois cavalry had committed some 
depredations which displeased Sheridan ; and, belonging 
to the conservative loyal party, he was in no mood to obey 
cheerfully a command to lay violent hands on the property 
of our " erring southern brethren." It cannot be denied 
that the western soldier had much to learn of the true 
character of the war, in common with a great number of 
heroic defenders of the flag. He wrote a spirited letter 
to General Curtis, which was unnoticed at the time, be- 
cause a terrible struggle was at hand for the control of 
a State. 

March 6th, 1862, General Curtis met General Price 
in the northwestern part of Arkansas, near White River. 
The region is called Pea Ridge, because it was said 
peas only would grow there. The quartermaster was at 
Springfield, Missouri, from which the rebels had retreated 
** until they received their expected reenfor cements at 
some point in the Boston range of mountains, near the 
northwestern boundary of Arkansas ; and along with this, 



C'S LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 

the pursuit by the National forces under Curtis and Sigel, 
extending, as to time, from the opening of February — the 
day when Colonel Carr's cavalry started from Springfield 
—until the memorable 6th, when Colonel Ellis first, and 
General Sigel afterwards, met the enemy and gave battle. 
The combat was often hand to hand. Horsemen were 
dismounted and struggled with the infantry, while the 
officers were sometimes seen defending themselves against 
the advancing bayonets of the common soldiers. Strange 
Sigel was not killed. He was well known to the rebels, 
and a hundred rifles sought in vain to end his career. 
The balls whistled about his head, but none touched him, 
though one carried away his spectacles, and a second 
pierced his cap. SigeFs loss in the entire march, it was 
estimated, would reach sixty killed and two hundred 
wounded. Many of the wounded fell into the hands of 
the enemy. 

" In the main camp of the army every thing was 
bustle and conomotion. Coffee, bread, and meat were 
prepared and sent out, with blankets and overcoats, for 
the comfort of those who had so nobly fought during the 
day, and were intending to renew the conflict at dawn. 
General Sigel and Colonel Davis had returned, and were 
making all preparation to throw their whole force to the 
aid of Colonel Carr. The teams were still attached to 
the wagons, and the braying of the mules — never melodi- 
ous — ^became doubly dismal and discordant. The poor 



LITE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 69 

animals had been without food for forty-eight hours, and 
without water for twenty-four hours. They had been 
standing in harness since daybreak, and their usually 
hoarse tones gradually softened to a low plaintive moan 
that was painful to hear. Most of the officers were fear- 
ful of the results of the conflict on the morrow. TVe had 
suflered severely ; the enemy outnumbered us, and was 
fighting desperately. We had gained no advantage over 
him, but had simply succeeded in repelling his attacks. 
Our communication with Springfield was cut off, and our 
messengers falling into his hands. Among the soldiers, 
as they sat by the camp fires, there was generally but on< 
expression : ' We must fight like heroes or surrender to 
the rebels. There is no falling safely back, as there wa" 
at Wilson Creek. Our only alternative is desperate fight- 
ing, and we will all do our best.' Many of them sent 
farew^ell messages to the loved ones at home. Around 
headquarters most of the commanders passed a sleepless 
night. General Sigel brought his division into camp, 
where it was ready at call, and then calmly lay down to 
sleep. Colonel Davis moved his command at midnight, 
and anxiously waited the coming light. The commander- 
in-chief was hopeful, but fearful. Colonel Dodge and 
Colonel Vandever sent in for a fresh supply of ammu- 
nition, and about midnight visited the camp in person to 
swallow a sup of coffee and return to the field. Ambu- 
lances were in constant motion, bringing in the wounded. 



70 LIFE OF GENERAL SHERmAN. 

In the action of the day the Iowa regiments had suffered 
fearfully. Nearly two hundred each had been the loss of 
the Iowa, Fourth and Ninth, and the latter had not a sin- 
gle field officer fit for duty. Its colonel was commanding 
a brigade, and Lieutenant-Colonel Herron was made 
prisoner while gallantly cheering his men, after losing a 
horse and receiving a severe wound, and its major and 
adjutant were disabled and in the hospital. Still none of 
the men were despondent, but were all ready for the work 
of the morrow. From the camp of a German regiment, 
the notes of some plaintive air was wafted on the breeze 
in words unintelligible to my ear. 

" An hour or more was spent in contesting the pos- 
session of the spot on Mr. Cox's farm, when the enemy 
fell back to the hollow. A pause ensued, when the right, 
under General Davis, moved along, and after a sharp fight 
of half an hour, in which the rebel General Mcintosh was 
killed, the enemy beat a retreat to Cross Timber Hollow. 
The whole line was then ordered forward. The rebels 
attempted to make a stand on the next hill, but our artil- 
lery played upon them with disastrous effect. The enemy 
on the road near the tavern refused to be moved. Gen- 
eral Asboth, with a large column of cavalry, was sent 
round to outflank them, when another desperate conflict 
ensued between our cavalry and the Texas and Louisiana 
troops. The Indians also took part in it ; but beyond 
tlieir shrieks and yells their influence was not felt. Gen- 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEKIDAN. 71 

eral Asboth received a wound in tlie arm while at the 
head of his men. 

*' And now our batteries on Ihe right were ordered to 
the front. Taking a position witliin five hundred yards, 
they poured in an incessant sliower of grape, canister, and 
shell, for twenty minutes. A general bayonet charge was 
then ordered, and our whole line rushed down the valley 
and ascended the opposite hill. A. cheer went up from 
our men as they delivered volley after volley into the ene- 
my's ranks. The rebels cheered also, and it was evident 
that they were twice our number from the noise they 
made. 

" General Sigel was carrying every thing before him 
on the extreme left. It was clear that the foe was run- 
ning, and our men catching the inspiration of the moment 
rushed on in pursuit, and before one o'clock the rout was 
complete. To the westward of Pea Ridge there was a 
wide strip of timber which had been blown down by a 
tremendous hurricane the previous summer. Across this 
swath of uprooted trees, which were larger and denser 
in the low lands, the enemy's cavalry and artillery at- 
tempted to retreat, and were mercilessly pelted with shell. 
Their panic was overwhelming, and their defeat decided. 
They had risked every thing in the attempt to destroy us, 
and lost every thing in the failure. Muskets, clothing, 
and shot guns were strewn along the woods. * Horses 
roamed about in droves. The cries of the cavalrymen 



72 LIFE OF GENEEAL SHERIDAN. 

and the yells of the Indians, with the groans of w )unded, 
surpassed all description. Caissons overturned, wagons 
broken down, and horses dpng and dead, strewed the 
whole road. After following the main body of the rebels 
for ten miles, Sigel returned." 

Such were a few of the scenes of the bloody three 
days' fight for Missouri — a great but costly victory. For 
the first time, I believe, in the war, the tomahawk and 
scalping knife had been used on our brave boys. General 
Curtis wrote an indignant letter to General Price, pro- 
testing against the "• savage warfare." His next cor- 
respondence was with the quartermaster at Springfield, 
relieving him from command, and ordering him to St. 
Louis under arrest, for his "saucy" letter to the victO' 
rious general. 




CHAPTER V. 

The Captain in a new Enterprise for the Aitny — Quarteimaster again at 
Corinth — Enters the Cavalry Service — The Past and Present of the Cavalry 
— Crossing Eivers — The War-horse. 

^/jSi^^HE unpleasant affair was soon settled, and Slier- 
\^ idan was sent to Wisconsin to buy horses for 
the army. The accomplishment of this object 
was followed by his appointment to the post of 
Chief Quartermaster of the department under 
General Halleck, who was then before Corinth. In the 
momentous work of that campaign his duties were per- 
formed with greater ability than before, because his expe- 
rience had been, in a few months, equal to that of ordi- 
nary years, in the management of the resources of vast 
armies. Nothing in the Quartermaster's Department 
was wanting to aid in the great contest. 

Beauregard was prepared for the expected encounter 
at Corinth. After a council at General Halleck's head- 
quarters, May 11th, tlie advance began. And now the 
vast host moved in all the grandeur of fully equipped and 



74 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 

resolute legions, toward a foe impatient to dispute the on 
ward march to their stronghold. 

May 17th the first shock came. The Fifth Division 
of General Grant's army, under Sherman, met the rebels 
in a severe conflict on the road to Corinth. They had to 
fall back before the human tide, crested with fire and 
steel, that beat in successive waves upon their opposing 
battle front. This victory is inscribed on the banner 
of the splendid division who won it, " Russell's Court 
House " — a spot crimsoned with the blood with which it 
was purchased. The brief contest only opened the way 
to the fortress of rebel strength. And the question was, 
How shall Corinth be taken ? It must either be by direct 
and bloody assault, or by siege — surrounding it, and com- 
pelling the imprisoned army to surrender. 

Beauregard watched with sleepless vigilance his foe- 
He ordered troops to intrench on a ridge near Phillip's 
Creek, and oppose the Union forces. General Da\ds, 
of General Grant's army, approached the works ; then, 
feigning a retreat, drew the garrison out, when a severe 
struggle ensued, routing the enemy completely. This oc- 
curred May 21st ; and on the 27th General Sherman aLo 
had a fight with the rebels. 

Through all the days of skirmishing, pitched battle, 
and marching, the parallels or long lines of our brave 
men had pushed the front nearer and nearer to Corinth. 
May 28th, Gen. Grant pressed up in force to within gun- 



LIFE OF GENEEAL SHERIDAN. Y5 

shot of the fortifications, to ascertain the posture and 
power of the enemy. He was resisted, but the rebels 
were obliged to yield. 

" The line of the works was selected, and, at the word 
of command, three thousand men with axes, spades, and 
picks, stepped out into the open field from their cover in 
the woods. In almost as short a time as it takes to tell 
it, the fence rails which surrounded and divided three 
hundred acres into convenient farm lots, were on the 
shoulders of the men, and on the way to the intended 
line of works. In a few moments more a long line of 
crib work stretches over the slope of the hill, as if another 
anaconda fold had been twisted around the rebels. Then, 
as, for a time, the ditches deepen, the cribs fill up, the dirt 
is packed on the outer side, the bushes and all points of 
concealment are cleared from the front, and the centre 
divisions of our army had taken a long stride toward the 
rebel works. The siege guns are brought up and placed 
in commanding positions. A log house furnishes the 
hewn and seasoned timber for the platforms, and the 
plantation of a Southern lord has been thus speedily 
transformed into one of Uncle Sam's strongholds, where 
the Stars and Stripes float proudly. Thus had the whole 
army (under the immediate charge of General Grant, the 
commander in the field) worked itself up into the very teeth 
of the rebel works, and rested there on Thursday night, 
the 28th, expecting a general engagement at any moment. 



76 LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

*' Soon after daylight on Friday morning, the army 
was startled by rapid and long- continued explosions, sim- 
ilar to musketry, but much louder. The conviction flashed 
across my mind that the rebels were blowing up their 
loose ammunition, and leaving. The dense smoke arising 
in the direction of Corinth strengthened this belief, and 
soon the whole army was advancing on a grand recon- 
noissance. The distance through the woods was short, 
and in a few minutes shouts arose from the rebel lines, 
which told that our army was in the enemy's trenches. 
Regiment after regiment pressed on, and passing through 
'extensive camps just vacated, soon reached Corinth, and 
found half of it in flames. Beauregard and Bragg had 
left the afternoon before, and the rear-guard had passed 
out of the town before daylight, leaving enough stragglers 
to commit many acts of vandalism at the expense of pri- 
vate property. They burned churches and other public 
buildings, private goods, stores, and dwellings, and choked 
up half the wells in town. In the camps immediately 
around the town there were few evidences of hasty re- 
treat ; but on the right flank, where Price and Van Dorn 
were encamped, the destruction of baggage and stores 
was very great, showing precipitate flight. Portions of 
our army were immediately put in pursuit." 

While thus attending to the wants of the army in its 
siege, the demand for commanders in the cavalry to push 
its operations around Corinth, turned the attention of su- 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAX. 77 

peiioi officers to Slieridaa. In the midst of the struggle, 
May 27thj he was commissioned colonel of the Second 
regiment of Michigan cavalry, and at once engaged in 
the raiding south of Corinth, to cut off retreat if the 
rebels were compelled to fly from their stronghold. Col- 
onel Sheridan was now ''' the right man in the right place " 
— in his field of highest possible success. This brings us 
to that interesting and romantic department of mihtary 
activity and achievements, the Cavalry, 

Lieutenant-Colonel C. W. Tolles, assistant-quarter- 
master, has afforded us a very pleasant view of the his- 
tory of the troopers, and the way of crossing streams on 
the march : 

" Cavalry ! At this word whose mind does not invol- 
untarily recall pictures of mailed knights rushing upon 
each other with levelled lances, and of the charging squad- 
rons of Austerlitz, of Jena, of Marengo, of the Peninsula, 
and of Waterloo? Whose blood is not stirred with a 
throng of memories connected with the noble achievements 
of the war-horse and his rider? Who does not imagine 
a panorama of all that is gay and glorious in warfare — 
prancing coursers, gilded trappings, burnished sabres, 
waving pennons, and glittering helmets — rank after rank 
of gallant riders — anon the blast of busrles. the drawin*]: 
of sabres, the mighty rushing of a thousand steeds, the 
clash of steel, the shout, the victory ? The chief romance 
of war attaches itself to the deeds accomplished by the 



78 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 

assistance of the power and endurance of man's noblest 
servant. Every one has read so much poetry about val- 
iant youths, mounted on fiery yet docile steeds, doing deeds 
of miraculous prowess in the ranks of their enemies — our 
literature is so full of tapestried representations of knightly 
retinues and charging squadrons — the towering form of 
Murat is so conspicuous in the narratives of the Napo- 
leonic wars, and history has so often repeated the deeds 
of those horsemen who performed such illustrious feats in 
the combats of half a century ago, that we associate with 
the cavalry only ideas of splendor and glory, of wild free- 
dom and dashing gallantry. But the cavalry service is 
far difierent from such vague and fanciful imaginations. 
Instead of ease, there is constant labor ; instead of free- 
dom, there is a difficult system of discipline and tactics ; 
and instead of frequent opportunities for glorious charges, 
there is a constant routine of toilsome duty in scouting 
and picketing, with rarely an opportunity for assisting 
prominently in the decision of a great battle, or of win- 
ning renown in overthrowing the ranks of an enemy by 
the impetuous rush of a mass of horses against serried 
bayonets. 

" In many respects cavalry is the most difficult branch 
of military service to maintain and to operate. It is ex- 
ceedingly costly, on account of the great loss of horses by 
the carelessness of the men, by overwork, by disease, and 
by the fatalities of battle. The report of General Hal- 



LIFE OF GENEEAL SHERroAN. TO 

leek, for the year 1863, stated that from May to October 
there were from ten to fourteen thousand cavalry in the 
Army of the Potomac, while the number of horses fur- 
nished them for the same period was thirty-five thousand ; 
adding to these the horses taken by capture and used for 
mounting men, the number would be sufficient to give 
each man a horse every two months. There were two 
hundred and twenty-three regiments of cavalry in the 
service, which, at the same rate, would require four hun- 
dred and thirty-five thousand horses. This is an immense 
expenditure of animals, and is attributable in part to the 
peculiarities of the volunteer service — such as the lack 
of care and knowledge on the part of the officers, and the 
disposition of the men to break down their horses by im- 
proper riding, and sometimes out of mere wantonness, for 
the purpose of getting* rid of animals they do not like, for 
the chance of obtaining better. A measure has recently 
been adopted to remedy these evils, by putting into the 
infantry cavalry officers, and men who show themselves 
incompetent to take proper care of their animals, and who 
neglect other essentials of cavalry service. The provision 
and transportation of forage for cavalry horses also con- 
stitute items of great cost. 

" To attain proficiency and effectiveness, cavalry sol- 
diers require much longer instruction than those of any 
other arm. They must become expert swordsmen, and 
acquire such skill in equitation that horse and rider shaU 



80 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 

resemble the mythical centaurs of the ancients — shall be 
only one individual in will. The horses should be as 
thoroughly trained as the riders. In European armies 
this is accomplished in training scliools. The govern 
ments keep constantly on hand large supplies of animals, 
partly purchased and partly produced in public stables, 
and capable instructors are continually employed in fitting 
both men and horses for their duties. 

" To insure the provision of proper horses and to re- 
cuperate those which are sent from the army disabled or 
sick, an immense cavalry depot has been established at 
Giesboro', near "Washington. Thousands of horses were 
kept there ready for service, and as fast as men in the 
army were dismounted by the loss of their animals, they 
were sent to this depot. It is one of the most useful and 
best-arranged affairs connected with our service, and has 
greatly assisted in diminishing the expense attending the 
provision of animals, and in increasing the efficiency of 
our cavalry. 

" We have had all the difficulties to contend with re- 
sulting from inexperienced riders and untrained horses. 
No one who has not beheld the scene can imag||^ the 
awkward appearance of a troop of recruits mounted on 
horses unaccustomed to the saddle. The sight is one of 
the most laughable that can be witnessed. We have seen 
the attempt made to put such a troop into a gallop across 
a field. Fifty horses and fifty men instantly became 



LIFE OF GENEEAL SHEErDAJS". 81 

actuated by a hundred different wills, and dispersed in all 
directions — some of the riders hanging on to the pommels, 
with their feet out of the stirrups, others tugging away at 
the bridles, and not a few sprawling on the ground. After 
a few months' drills, however, a different scene is pre- 
sented, and an old troop horse becomes so habituated to his 
exercises, that not only will he perform all the evolutions 
without guidance, but will even refuse to leave the ranks, 
though under the most vigorous incitements of whip and 
spur. An officer friend was once acting as cavalier to a 
party of ladies on horseback at a review, when, unfor- 
tunately, the troop in which his horse belonged happening 
to pass by, the animal bolted from the group of ladies, 
and took his accustomed place in the ranks, nor could all 
the efforts of his rider disengage him. Finally, our friend 
was obliged to dismount, and, holding the horse by the 
bit, hack him out of the troop to his station with the 
party of ladies — a feat performed amid much provoking 
laughter. 

" Cavalry can operate in masses only when circum- 
stances are favorable — the country open, and the ground 
free from obstructions. Yet it is in masses alone that it 
can be effective, and it can triumph against infantry only 
by a shocJc — from the precipitation of its weight upon the 
lines, crushing them by the onset. Before the time of 
Frederic the Great, the Prussian horsemen resembled 

those to be seen at a militia review — they were a sort of 
6 



82 LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

picture soldiers, incapable of a vigorous charge. He rev- 
olutionized the service by teaching that cavalry must 
achieve success by a rapid onset, not stopping to fire them- 
selves, and not regarding the fire of their opponents. By 
practising these lessons, they were able to overthrow the 
Austrian infantry. But if the force of a charge is dissi- 
pated by obstructions on the ground, or is broken by the 
fire of the assailed, the eflTectiveness of cavalry, as a par- 
ticipant in the manoeuvres of the battle-field, is entirely 
destroyed. 

" The question of the future of cavalry is at present 
one of great interest among military investigators ; for 
notwithstanding its brilliant achievements during our civil 
war, the fact is apparent that its sphere has been entirely 
changed, its old system has become obsolete, and former 
possibilities no longer lie within its scope. Since Water- 
loo there had not been, until our war commenced, any 
opportunity to test the action of cavalry ; for its operations 
in the Crimea and in Italy were insignificant. The art of 
warfare had, meanwhile, in many respects, become revo- 
lutionized by the introduction of rifled arms. Military 
men waited, therefore, with interest, the experience of the 
war in this country, to judge from it as to the part cavalry 
was to perform in future warfare. That experience has 
shown that the day in which cavalry can successfully 
charge squares of infantry has passed. When the smooth- 
bore muskets alone were used by infantry, cavalry could 



LIFE OF GENEEAL SIIEEIDAN. 83 

be formed in masses for charging at a distance of five 
hundred yards ; noAv the formations must be made at the 
distance of nearly a mile, and that intervening space must 
be passed at speed under the constant fire of cannon and 
rifles ; when the squares are reached, the horses are 
frightened and blown, the ranks have been disordered by 
the impossibility of preserving a correct front during such 
a length of time at rapid speed, and by the loss of men ; 
the charge breaks weakly on the wall of bayonets, and 
retires baffled. Infantry, before it learns its own strength 
and the difficulty of forcing a horse against a bayonet — 
or rather to trample down a man — has an absurd and un- 
founded fear of cavalry. This feeling was in part the 
cause of the panic among our troops at Bull Run ; so 
much had been said about the Black Horse troop of the 
rebels. The Waterloo achievements ^of the French were 
then thought possible of repetition. Nowadays it is 
hardly probable that the veteran infantry of either army 
would take the trouble to form squares to resist cavalry, 
but would expect to rout it by firing in line. Neither 
p«rty in our war has been able to make its mounted forces 
effective in a general battle. Nothing has occurred to 
parallel, upon the battle-field, those exploits of the cavalry 
— French, Prussian, and English — in the great wars of 
the last century, extending to Waterloo. 

'• The enthusiastic admirers of cavalry still maintain 
that it is possible to repeat those exploits, even in face 



84 LITE OF GENEEAL SHEEIDAN. 

of tlie improved firearms now in use. All tliat is neces- 
sary, they say, is to have the cavalry sufficiently drilled. 
The ground to be crossed under a positively dangerous 
fire is only five hundred or six hundred yards ; and once 
taught to continue the charge through the bullets for this 
distance, and then to throw themselves on the bayonets, 
horsemen will now, as heretofore, break the lines of infan- 
try. All very true, 'if cavalry to fulfil the conditions 
named can be obtained ; but in tliem lies the difficulty. 
Occasional instances of splendid charges will undoubtedly 
occur in future warfare ; but it seems to be an established 
fact that the day for the glory of cavalry has passed. 
Once the mailed knight, mounted on his mailed charger, 
could overthrow by scores the poor, pusillanimous pike- 
men and crossbow men who composed the infantry ; he 
was invulnerable in his iron armor, and could ride them 
down like reeds. But gunpowder and the bayonet have 
changed this ; and now the most confident and domineer- 
ing cavalryman will put spurs to his horse and fly at a 
gallop, if he sees the muzzle of an infantryman's rifle 
with its glittering bayonet, pointed at him from the 
thicket. 

" Another revolution effected in the mounted service 
by the improvements in arms and the consequent changes 
of tactics, is the diminution of heavy and the increase of 
light cavalry ; that is, the transfer of the former into the 
latter. These two denominations really include all kinds 



LITE OF GENERAL SnEKIDAN. 85 

of cavalry, althougli the non-military reader may have 
been puzzled by the numerous subordinate denominations 
to be found in the accounts of European warfare — such 
as dragoons, cuirassiers, hussars, lancers, chasseurs, hu- 
lans, etc. 

" Heavy cavalry is composed of the heavier men and 
horses, and is usually divided into dragoons and cuirassiers. 
It is designed to act in masses, and to break the lines of 
an enemy by the weight of its charge. Usually, also, it 
has had some defensive armor, and is a direct descendant 
from the knights of the Middle Ages. But the cuirasses, 
which were sufficient to resist the balls from smooth-bore 
muskets, are easily penetrated by rifles. Consequently 
the occupation of this kind of cavalry is gone, and it is 
likely to disappear gradually from the service. In this 
country we have never had any thing except light cavalry 
— the only kind adapted for use in our Indian warfare. 
This kind of cavalry is intended to accomplish results by 
the celerity of its movements, and all its equipments 
should therefore be as light as possible. The chief diffi- 
culty is to prevent the cavalry soldier from overloading 
his horse, as he has a propensity not only to carry a large 
wardrobe and a full supply of kitchen utensils, but also 
to ' convey,' in the language of Pistol, or, in army lan- 
guage, ' gobble-up,' or in plain English, steal any thing 
tliat is capable of being fastened to his saddle. 

" It is evident that the efficiency of a cavalry soldiei 



86 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. • 

depeods as niucli upon his horse as upon himself ; and it 
is requisite, therefore, that the weight upon the horse 
should be as light as possible. The limit has been fixed 
at about two hundred pounds for light, and two hundred 
and fifty for heavy cavalry ; but both of these are too 
much. A cavalry soldier ought not to weigh over one 
hundred and fifty to one hundred and sixty pounds, and 
his accoutrements not over thirty pounds additional ; but 
in practice, scarcely any horse — except where the rider is 
a very light weight — carries less than two hundred and 
twenty or two hundred and thirty pounds. One great 
cause of the evils incident to our cavalry service is the 
excessive weight imposed on the horses. The French take 
particular pains in this respect : while in England the 
cavalry is almost entirely ' heavy,' and, though well 
drilled, is clumsy. John Bull, with his roast beef and 
plum pudding, makes a poor specimen of a light cavalry- 
man. English officers are now endeavoring to revolution- 
ize theu' mounted service, so as to diminish its weight and 
increase its celerity. 

" The arms of cavalry have been various, but it is 
now well settled that its true weapon is the sabre, as its 
true form of operation is the chai-ge. A great deal of 
ingenuity has been expended in devising the best form of 
sabre. Different countries have different patterns, but the 
one adopted in our army is very highly considered. It 
is pointed, so as to be used in thrusting ; sharp on one 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 87 

edge for cutting ; curved, so as to inflict a deeper wound ; 
and the weight arranged by a mathematical rule, so that 
the centres of percussion and of gravity are placed where 
the weapon miay be most easily handled. The lance is a 
weapon very appropriate to light mounted troops, and is 
still used by some of the Cossacks and Arab horsemen. 
But to wield it effectively requires protracted training. 
For a long time in Europe it was the chief weapon for 
horsemen ; with the knights it was held in exclusive honor, 
and continued in use for a considerable period after fire- 
arms had destroyed the prestige of the gentlemen of the 
golden spurs. Prince Maurice of Orange, when he raised 
mounted regiments to defend the Netherlands against the 
Spanish, rejected it, and since his time it has become 
obsolete except in some regiments especially drilled to it. 
Such a regiment was raised in Philadelphia at the com- 
mencement of our war, but after eighteen months' expe- 
rience the lances were abandoned. Besides the sabre, 
cavalrymen are armed with pistols or carbines — the men 
having the latter being employed particularly in skirmish- 
ing, sometimes on foot. 

" The proportion of mounted troops in an army varies 
according to the nature of the country which is the theatre 
of military operations. In a level country it should be 
about one-fourth or one-fifth, while in one that is moun- 
tainous, it should not be greater than a tenth. As a gen- 
eral rule, improvements in firearms have produced a 



88 LIFE OF GENEliAL SIIEKIDAN. 

decrease in the proportion of cavalry and lessened its im- 
portance. When artillery was introduced, the cavaliers, 
who composed the Middle Age armies exclusively, com- 
menced to disappear ; knighthood passed out of existence, 
being superseded by mercenary bands. Infantry gradu- 
ally assumed importance, which has constantly increased, 
until it has now attained the vast predominance. This 
has not only caused a general diminution of the propor- 
tion of cavalry, but has entailed on the governments of 
Europe the necessity of keeping their cavalry service al- 
ways at its maximum, so that the mounted troops may be 
perfect in their drill ; whereas infantry troops can acquire 
comparative proficiency in a few months. We will give 
a brief description of the different classes of cavalry, and 
close our subject by some remarks on the operation of 
this arm of service in our civil war. 

" The regiments raised by Prince Maurice of Orange, 
above referred to, were the first known as cuirassiers, on 
account of the cuirasses which they wore for defence. 
All defensive armor is now being laid aside. 

" Dragoons originally were a class of soldiers who 
operated both on foot and mounted. They are supposed 
to take their name from a kind of firearm called a ' dragon.' 
In modern practice dragoons are almost entirely used as 
cavalry, and rarely have recourse to any extended service 
on foot. The denomination ' dragoons ' has recently been 
abolished from our service. 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 89 

" Carabineers were at first some Basque and Gascoi 
horsemen m the French service, whose peculiarly (lis 
tinguishing characteristic was a skilful use in the saddle 
of a short firearm. 

" Hussars originated in* Hungary, taking their de- 
nomination from the word husz, which signifies twenty, 
and ar, pay — every twentieth man being required by 
the State to enter into service. From their origin they 
were distinguished for the celerity of their movements 
and their devotion to fine costumes. 

" The hulans were a species of Polish light cavalry, 
bearing lances, and taking their name from their com- 
mander — a nobleman named Huland. 

" Chasseurs are French regiments, designed chiefly to 
act as scouts and skirmishers. The chasseurs d'Afrique 
are cavalry which have been trained in Algeria, and have 
become exceedingly expert through conflicts with the 
Arabs. The spahis are Arab cavalry ia the French ser- 
vice, and are such admirable riders that they will charge 
over all kinds of ground, and dash upon a foe who judges 
himself secure amid rocks, or trees, or ditches. 

" At the commencement of the war the rebel cavalry 
was superior to that furnished by the North. For this 
there were many reasons. Southern plantation life had 
accustomed the aristocratic youth to the saddle, and great 
attention was bestowed on the training of horses. At the 
North the number of skilled riders was comparatively few. 



90 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 

Gradually, however, northern energy, endurance, and 
patient discipline began to tell, and the time soon arrived 
when the Southern cavalry were invariably driven, espe- 
cially in sabre charges, to which Southerners have great 
aversion. At present, on account of the scarcity of horses, 
the difficulty of supplying forage, and the loss of so many 
gay youths of the chivalry, the Southern cavalry has 
dwindled into such a condition as to be no longer formi- 
dable. 

" The services of the cavalry in both armies during 
the war has been exclusively as light cavalry — scouting, 
picketing, raiding, etc. Its combats have been with 
forces of its own arm. No commander has yet succeeded 
in assisting to determine the issue of a pitched battle by 
the charges of his mounted troops. Our cavalry have 
rendered, however, brilliant and invaluable services in 
protecting the rear and flanks of the armies, and by their 
magnificent raiding expeditions into the enemy's country, 
destroying his supplies, injuring his communications, di- 
verting his forces, and liberating his slaves. No suffi- 
cient accounts of such expeditions and of the numerous 
cavalry conflicts have been published ; yet they are very 
desirable. They would furnish most interesting narra- 
tives, and be a valuable contribution not only to the his- 
tory of the times, but to the history of warfare ; for the 
operations of the cavahy in this war constitute a new era 
in the hist^ory of this branch of military service. Unless 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 91 

care is exercised to procure such narratives, our posterity 
will never know any thing of many battle-fields where 
fought and fell brave troopers from every Northern 
State. 

" The chief duties of officers belonging to the corps of 
engineers,, when connected with an army acting in the 
field, are the supervision of routes of communication, the 
laying of bridges, the selection of positions for fortifica- 
tions, and the indication of the proper character of works 
to be constructed. Should a siege occur, a new and very 
important class of duties devolves on them, relating to the 
trenches, saps, batteries, etc. 

" Not only is there in Virginia a lack of good roads, 
but the numerous streams have few or no bridges. In 
many cases where bridges have existed, one or the other 
of the contending armies has destroyed them to impede 
the march of its opponents. Streams which have an 
average depth of three or four feet are, however, generally 
without bridges, except where crossed by some turnpike, 
the common country roads mostly leading to fords. The 
famous Bull Run is an example. There were but two or 
three bridges over this stream in the space of country 
penetrated by the roads generally pursued by our army 
in advancing or retreating, and these have been several 
times destroyed and rebuilt. The stream varies from 
two to six feet in depth — the fords being at places of 
favorable depth, and where the bottom is gravelly and 



92 LIFE OF GENEEAL SHERIDAN. 

the bauks sloping. Often such streams as this, and in- 
deed smaller ones, become immensely swelled in volume 
by storms, so that a comparatively insignificant rivulet 
might greatly delay the march of an army, if means for 
quickly crossing should not be provided. The general 
depth of a ford which a large force, with its appurte- 
nances, can safely cross, is about three feet, and even 
then the bottom should be good and the current gentle. 
With a greater depth of water, the men are likely to wet 
their cartridge boxes, or be swept off their feet. There 
is a small stream about three miles from Alexandria, 
crossing the Little River turnpike, which has never been 
bridged, and which was once so suddenly swollen by rain 
that all the artiUery and wagons of a corps were obliged 
to wait about twelve hours for its subsidence. The mules 
of some wagons driven into it were swept away. Fords, 
unless of the best bottom, are rendered impassable after a 
small portion of the wagons and artillery of an army have 
crossed them — the gravel being cut through into the un- 
derlying clay, and the banks converted into sloughs by 
the dripping of water from the animals and wheels. 

" A very amusing scene was presented at the cross- 
ing of Hazel River (a branch of the Rappahannock) 
when the Army of the Potomac first marched to Culpep- 
per. The stream Avas at least three feet deep, and at 
various places four — the current very rapid — the bot- 
tom filled with large stones, and the banks steep, except 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 93 

where a narrow road had been cut for the wagons. Tlie 
men adopted various expedients for crossing. Some went 
in boldly all accoutred ; some took off shoes and stock- 
ings, and carefully rolled up their trowsers ; others (and 
they were the wisest) divested themselves of all their 
lower clothing. The long column struggled as best it 
could through the water, and occasionally, amid vocifer- 
ous shouts, those who had been careful to roll up their 
trowsers would step into a hole up to the middle ; others, 
who had taken still more precautions, would stumble over 
a stone and pitch headlong into the roaring waters, drop- 
ping their guns, and splashing vainly about with their 
heavy knapsacks, in the endeavor to regain a footing, 
until some of their comrades righted them ; and others, 
after getting over safely, would slip back from the sandy 
bank, and take an involuntarv immersion. Some clun" 
to the rear of the wagons, but in the middle of the stream 
the mules would become fractious, or the wagon would 
get jammed against a stone, and the unfortunate passen- 
gers were compelled to drop off and wade ashore, greeted 
by roars of derisive laughter. On such occasions soldiers 
give full play to their humor. They accept the hardships 
with good nature, and make the best of any ridiculous 
incident that may happen. At the time referred to many 
conscripts had just joined the ranks, and cries resounded 
everywhere among the old soldiers : ' Hello, conscripts, 
how do you hke this ? * ' What d'ye think of sogering 



94 LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

now?' 'This is nothing. You'll have to go in up tc 
yer neck next time.' 

" Generally, when the exigencies of the march will 
permit, bridges are made over such streams, either by 
the engineers of the army or detachments from the vari- 
ous corps which are passing upon the roads. They ar« 
simple ' corduroy bridges,' and can be laid very expedi- 
tiously. Two or three piers of stones and logs are placed 
in the stream, string pieces are stretched upon them, and 
cross pieces of small round logs laid down for the flour- 
ing. The most extensive bridges of this kind used by the 
Army of the Potomac were those over the Chickahominy 
in the Peninsular campaign. ' Sumner's bridge,' by 
Avhich reenforcements crossed at the battle of Fair Oaks, 
was laid in this manner. Of course such brids-es are 
liable to be carried away and to be easily destroyed. 
Some of the bridges over the Chickahominy were laid 
much more thoroughly. ' Cribs ' of logs were piled in 
cob-house fashion, pinned together, and sunk vertically in 
the stream. Then string pieces and the flooring were 
laid, the whole covered with brush and dirt. Men work- 
ed at these bridges up to the waist in water for many 
days in succession, 

" Military art has devised many expedients for bridg- 
ing streams, and use is made of any facilities that may 
be at hand for constructing the means of passage ; but 
the only organized bridge trains which move with the 



LIFE OF GENEEAL SHERIDAN. 95 

army are those which carry the pontoons. Of these 
there are various kinds, made of wood, of corrugated 
iron, and of India-rubber stretched over frames. But 
the wooden pontoon boats are most in use. They can be 
placed in a river and the flooring laid upon them with 
great rapidity. Several very fine bridges have been thus 
constructed — among them may be mentioned the one at 
the mouth of the Chickahominy, across which General 
McClellan's army marched in retreating from Harrison's 
Landinsr. It was about a mile lonor, and was constructed 
in a few hours. 

" To cross a river under the fire of an enemy is one 
of the most difficult operations in warfare. Yet it has 
been frequently accomplished by our armies. The cross- 
ing of the Rappahannock by General Burnside's army, 
previous to the great battle of Fredericksburg, in Decem- 
ber, 1862, is one of the most remarkable instances of the 
kind during the war. The rebel rifle-pits lined the south- 
ern bank, and the fire from them prevented our engineers 
from approaching — ^the river being only about seventy- 
five yards wide. For a long time our artillery failed to 
drive the rebels away. About noon of the day on whicli 
the crossing was made. General Burnside ordered a coii- 
centratioQ of fire on Fredericksburg, in tha houses of 
which place the rebels had concealed their forces. A 
hundred guns, hurling shot and shell into every buildii g 
and street of the city, soon riddled it ; but the obstiuLte 



dG LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

foes hid themselves in the cellars till the storm was over, 
and then emerged defiantly. They were only dislodged 
by sending over a battalion in boats to attack them in 
flank, when they retreated, and the bridges were laid." 

Some of the rules of cavalry marching, beginning with 
the " striking of the tents," if the troops have them, are 
the following : 

" Fifteen minutes after the first call, reveille will be 
sounded, when the men will fall in for roll-call. Imme- 
diately after roll-call the squadrons will be marched by 
their first sergeants to the stables. The horses will then 
be watered, groomed, and fed. 

'^ The horses having been attended to, the men will 
be dismissed and allowed to get breakfast. 

" Thirty minutes before the hour appointed for starts 
ins, 'boots and saddle' will sound. To horse will be 
sounded fifteen minutes thereafter, when the men will 
'lead out' and the roll wiU be called. First sergeants 
report the result to their squadron commanders, who will 
have the same report sent to the adjutant. Squadron 
commanders will then have the men mount, and be pre- 
pared to mount when the advance sounds. 

*' After marching thirty minutes, the command will 
be halted, the men dismounted and required to adjust the 
packs and tighten the girths. Short halts should be made 
at the end of every hour ; and if the march is to be a long 
one, a halt of an hour should be made at mid-day. 



LITE OF GENERAL SHEKIDAN. 97 

" The horses should be watered at least once during 
the march. 

*' When the road is good, a trot may be ordered. No 
faster gait will be allowed except in case of necessity. 

" On arriving in camp the troopers will unbridle, tie 
up the horses, wipe the saddles and bridles, sponge the 
horses* eyes and nostrils, rub the head with a whisp, pick 
the feet, and give a little hay. 

" After an interval to refresh the men, stable-call 
will be sounded, when saddles will be removed, and the 
horses watered, groomed, and fed. On removing the 
saddles, the backs must be examined, and any sign of 
galling reported immediately. The least flinching on the 
part of the animal should be taken notice of, and be 
sufficient cause to stop him from work, or having any 
thing put on his back. Hot poultices should be applied 
instantly, if there is pain, to prevent inflammation. 

" At no time should the slightest deviation from dis- 
cipline be allowed." 

And here I must notice that " unarmed hero," the 
war-horse. You recollect the inspired description, the 
best ever written. The Lord of all inquii*es of Jo^i 
*' Hast thou given the horse strengtli? Hast thou clothed 
his neck with thunder ? Canst thou make him afraid as 
a grasshopper ? The glory of his nostrils is terrible. ri« 
paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength : he 
goeth on to meet the armed men. He mocketh at fear, 
7 



98 LIFE OF GENEEAL SHEEIDAN. 

and is not affriglited ; neither turneth he back from the 
Bword. The quiver rattleth against him, the glittering 
spear, and the shield. He swalloweth the ground in 
fierceness and rage : neither helieveth he that it is the 
sound of the trumpet. He saith among the trumpets, 
Ha, ha ; and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder 
of the captains and the shouting." 

A friend, who is a captain in the cavalry, gave me a 
fine account of the sagacity and almost human attach- 
ment and forethought of this noble animal, as he ap- 
pears on the plains of war. His steed was a mottled 
chestnut, very handsome and fleet, captured from a 
Confederate officer, and had branded on his shoulder, in 
large letters, " C. S.", i. e. Confederate States. When 
rapid motion brought out the perspiration, the foam would 
make the letters very distinct at a great distance, so that 

he was often chased by troopers, and Capt. B could 

only escape by the unrivalled fleetness of the horse. 
Having been in the service of both sides, the animal 
knew them apart as quickly as his rider. When he dis- 
cerned any of the rebels afar, he would grow excited, and 
paw the earth ; but when Union troops came up, his ears 
and whole bearing revealed the recognition and joy. In 
skirmishing he would fly from one ambush to another, 
keeping the enemy in sight, without a touch from the rein. 
At night the captain sometimes lay awhile between his 
feet, the horse as careful not to bruise or harm as a hii- 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 99 

man watcher could be. Then, saying to the good steed, 
with a snap of the finger, " Go and feed," the horse would 
turn away and eat awhile, then return, and smell of his 
master to see that all was right. When satisfied, he went 
again to his wild pasture. In the morning, soon as the 
cavalryman was ready to mount, this splendid creature 
would settle toward the earth, to lessen the distance for 
the spring into the saddle ; and when the word was given 
to gallop, with apparent delight he rushed forward to the 
arena of conflict, or along the perilous way. One day, 
while scaling a stream no other horse ventured to cross 
without a bridge, he sank into the quicksand beyond, 
bringing his head upon the surface of the soil, snapped 
his neck, quivered a moment, and was dead. The cap- 
tain, bruised but safe, dropped a tear upon his courser, 
removed the trappings, and hurried back to his lines. 

It is not strange that the genuine cavalrymen, as did 
Sheridan, become strongly attached to their sagacious, 
trusty, often magnificent and affectionate steeds. How 
cruel and wicked, in the sight of God and good men, is 
the daily and hourly abuse of the brute, especially so of 
the princely horse ! 




CHAPTER VI. 

Colonel Sheridan's raiding around Corinth with Elliot's Command — ^Enlarged 
Kesponsibility — General Grant's Commendation — Created Brigadier-Gen- 
eral — A Daring Movement — Victory — Stone Eiver. 

^OLONEL SHERIDAN entered promptly and en- 
thusiastically into his active field duties. He had 
been successful in his previous official work, but 
now the way was fairly opened for distinction as 
a soldier. He was attached to Elliott's cavalry 
force in this earliest service. 

And look beyond the silent battlements of Corinth, 
crowned with Union banners, and away further than you 
can discern, down the railway toward Mobile : — why, with 
rapid marches, sweep the lines of our heroes in saddle? 
Colonel Elliott's cavalry are on the wing to reach Boone- 
ville in time to tear up the track, and cut ofi' the enemy's 
retreat. " Desolation ! desolation ! " was the exclama- 
tion on many lips, as the troopers dashed through the 
once fruitful fields. They suffered for food. See those 
few solitary, haggard sheep, wandering over the scarred 



LIFE OF GENEEAL SHERIDAN. 101 

and desert-like land. " Boys, after tliem ! " says Colonel 
Elliott. 

An odd interlude to the tragedy of war is that chase 
after the gaunt fugitives, whose masters have forsaken 
them. Jokes enliven the repast of the hungry men over 
the tough and juiceless mutton, taken in the vast slaugh- 
ter-field of humanity — unlike the divine abundance, and 
yet " without money and without price." 

The horsemen destroyed the track, burned the depot, 
a train of cars, and a large quantity of arms, and, taking 
a different route back, reached Corinth again in safety. 

June 6th he led a reconnoissance below Donaldson's 
cross-roads. Here the well-known Forrest met Sheridan's 
troops, and a sharp engagement followed, in which he 
was victorious again over the desperate foe. On the 8th, 
commanding two regiments, he pursued the enemy through 
Baldwin, captured it, met the enemy and defeated him, and 
then, in accordance with orders, returned to Corinth. A few 
days later, June 12th, his command was formally enlarged 
to that of a brigade, consisting of the Second Iowa cavalry 
in addition to his own regiment. He was prepared and 
impatient to make an onset upon the foe, equal in magni- 
tude to the strength of his army. The coveted opportunity 
was at hand. He was ordered to Booneville, twenty 
miles in front of the main army, to cover its advance, and 
watch carefully the enemy before him. 

July 1st, General Chalmers, leading nine regiments, 



102 LIFE OF GENEEAL SHERIDAN. 

in all six thousand men, attacked Colonel Sheridan with 
his two regiments, 

Skirmishing became the order of the day, until the 
gallant colonel fell back upon his camp. It lay upon the 
margin of a dense swamp, where to flank him would be a 
difficult undertaking, and directly confronting his power- 
ful foe Avith an inferior force, he could keep him at bay. 
The overwhelming numbers of the enemy began to threat^ 
en the Union brigade with isolation, by extending their 
lines around it. The perU suggested a fine stroke of 
strategy. Selecting ninety men, he sent them, armed with 
revolving carbines and sabres, along a curve of four miles 
around the enemy, with orders to fall on the rear at a given 
time, while he would attack the front at the same mo- 
ment. 

The bold, shrewd plan succeeded. "While the Confed- 
erates were dreaming of coming victory, suddenly the 
crack of carbines startled the " rear-guard," and then 
another volley, till the revolving weapons had gone their 
round, when the bugle sounded a charge ; and fearlessly 
as a host of ten thousand, the ninety troopers dashed upon 
the six thousand. Entirely ignorant of the numbers ad- 
vancing, the rebels were panic-smitten, and before a cor- 
rection of the mistake was possible, Sheridan made his 
onset in front with his usual impetuosity, sweeping down 
upon the opposing ranks with the fury of a tornado from 
the forest. Routed and terrified -he foe fled in confusion. 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 103 

General Sheridan pursued him with rapid pace, over a 
track bordered with guns, knapsacks, coats, and whatever 
impeded his flight. This wild chase was kept up for 
twenty miles. The success was complete and brilliant. 

General Grant appreciated the deed of valor, and 
in his report to the War Department, expressed his ad 
miration, commending Colonel Sheridan for promotion. 
Accordingly, a brigadier-general's commission, dated July 
1, 1862, was forwarded to the heroic officer. You will 
recoUect that General Sheridan's headquarters were at 
Boone ville, Tishemingo County, Mississippi, bordering on 
Tennessee, and southerly from Corinth. Twenty-Mile 
Creek ran between him and the enemy, and to it the animals 
of the rebel army were sent for watering. This afforded 
Sheridan a chance for a cavalry dash now and then, cap- 
turing as many as three hundred of them at a time. 

A few weeks afterwards, in August, General Sheridan 
performed another of his daring movements. Attacked 
by Colonel Faulkner, not far from the town of Rienzi, a 
short and desperate struggle terminated in victory to the 
Union troopers, Sheridan pursuing the fugitives almost to 
the main column of the hostile force, and safely retracing 
liis steps, with no small part of the attacking troops 
prisoners. 

And now we come to grander scenes in the arena 
of conflict. Early in Sep! ember, 1862, Grant learned 
that the rebel forces of the Southwest were making a 



104 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEEDAN. 

general advance, under General Bragg, upon the Union 
positions in that region, having the Ohio River for the 
goal of mad ambition. It became necessary to reenforce 
the Army of Ohio, then under the command of General 
Buell. Among the troops ordered to join him was 
General Sheridan's command, the Second Michigan cav- 
alry, which was at once enlarged by General Buell to 
that of the Third Division of the Army of the Ohio, in ac- 
cordance with General Grant's expectation when he as- 
signed to him the valiant officer. September 20th, Bragg 
was near Louisville, Kentucky, which was poorly pre- 
pared for an attack. It was General Sheridan's duty to 
defend the city. With prompt energy he took the hours 
of night for digging rifle-pits stretching from the railroad 
depot toward Portland, forming a strong defence against 
the enemy's approach, by securing the towTi against sur- 
prise. Here General Buell found Sheridan, September 
25th, when he arrived there to organize the Army of the 
Ohio, to which heavy re enforcements had been added. 
This new order of things placed General Sheridan at the 
head of the Eleventh Division, October 1st. 

The Union forces entered upon offensive warfare, bear-- 
ing steadily down upon the rebels, who, finding themselves 
thus confronted, began to retreat. Their success, however, 
had laden them with phmder, which impeded their pro- 
gress backward. To give their supply trains time to get 
out of the way, and bring our troops to a stand, Bragg 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEmAN. 105 

gave battle at Perryville, Kentucky. The engagement, 
"though a severe one, was not decisive, owing to some 
defects in the handlins: of the forces, and Brao:or was al- 
lowed to make good his retreat with most of his plunder, 
and with but moderate loss ; but in it Sheridan played 
a distinguished part, holding the key of the Union posi- 
tion, and resisting the onsets of the enemy again and 
again, with great bravery and skill, driving them at last 
from the open ground in front by a bayonet charge. 
'This accomplished, he saw that they were gaining advan- 
tage on the left of the Union line, and moving forward his 
artillery, directed so terrible a fire upon the rebel advance, 
that he drove them also from the open ground on which 
they had taken position. Enraged at being thus foiled, 
they charged with great fury upon his lines, determined 
to carry the point at all hazards ; but, with the utmost 
coolness, he opened upon them at short range with such 
a murderous fire of grape and canister, that they fell back 
in great disorder, leaving their dead and wounded in 
winrows in front of the batteries. The loss in Sheridan's 
division in killed and wounded was over four hundred, 
but his generalship had saved the Union army from de- 
feat. On the 30th of October, General Rosecrans suc- 
ceeded General Buell as commander of the Army of the 
Ohio, w^hich, with enlarged territory, was thenceforward 
to be known as the Army of the Cumberland. In its 
reorganization General Sheridan was assigned to the 



106 LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

command of one of the divisions of McCook's corps, 
wliicli constituted the right wing of that army. He re- 
mained for the next seven or eight weeks in the vicinity 
of Nashville, and then moved with his corps, on the 26th 
of December, 1862, toward Murfreesboro'. During the 
26th his division met the enemy on the Nolensville Road, 
and skirmished with them to NolensviUe and Knob Gap, 
occupying at night the latter important position. The 
next morning a dense fog obscured the horizon, but as 
soon as it lifted, Sheridan pressed forward and drove the 
enemy from the village of Triune, which he occupied." 

The decisive hour of a gi^eat conflict had come. Tow- 
ard this clash of arms, the fierce and awful collision of 
mighty armies, their movements for weeks had been tend- 
ing. Along the banks of Stone River, the final prepara- 
tions for deadly encounter went forward the last days 
of December. An army in battle array, has its centre 
or body, and its wings, stretching out on either side. 
General Sheridan's position was next to the centre, in 
the right wing, or on its extreme left, where the first 
onslaught of the enemy would be made. To give a vivid 
impression of the terrible contest, its efifect upon behold- 
ers before we were accustomed to such sanguinary 
scenes, and General Sheridan's gallant behavior, J 
shall quote passages from the notes of one who waa 
there : 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEKIDAN. 107 

"Battle-Field of Stone River, Tenn., ) 
Saturday, January 3, 18G3. f 

"A week of horrors, a week of carnage, a week of 
tremendous conflict — and battle still raging ! At this 
moment there is angry rattle of musketry and deep, sul- 
len roar of cannon, echoing ia the forest within Minio 
range of our marquee. My God, when will it end ! A 
thousand gallant dead slumber in their bloody graves ; 
four thousand wounded and mangled patriots are moan- 
ing on this sanguinary field. God knows how many rebel 
lives have closed during this fearful week, or how many 
desperate traitors suffer the agony of dreadful wounds. 

" In the rage of conflict the human heart expresses 
little sympathy with human suiFering. Your best friend 
is lifted fi-om the saddle by the fatal shaft, and plunges 
wildly to the earth — a- corpse. One convulsive leap of 
your heart, you dash onward in the stormy field, and the 
dead is forgotten until the furious frenzy of battle is 
spent. ' Never mind,' said our great-hearted General, 
when the death of the noble Sill was announced ; ' brave 
men must die ia battle ! We must seek results.' "When 
Gareshc's headless trunk fell at his feet, a shock thrilled 
him, and he dashed again into the fray. He was told 
"that McCook was killed. ' We cannot help it ; men who 
fight must be killed. Never mind ; let i^ fight this 
battle.' 

'^ On Friday, December 2Gth, the aimy advanced in 



108 LIFE OF GENEEAL SHEEEDAN. • 

three columns: Major-General McCook's corps dcA\-u the 
Nolinsville pike, driving Hardee before him a mile and 
a half beyond Nolinsville ; Major-General Thomas's 
corps, from its encampment on the Franklin pike via the 
Wilson pike ; Crittenden on the Murfreesboro pike. The 
right and left met vrith considerable resistance in a rolling 
and hilly country, with rocky bluffs and dense cedar 
thickets, affording cover for the enemy's skirmishers. 
Crittenden moved to a point within a mile and a half of 
La Vergne, skirmishing with the enemy sharply. General 
Thomas met with but little opposition. 

" On the 27th McCook drove Hardee from a point 
beyond Nolinsville, and pushed a reconnoitring division 
six miles toward Shelbyville, discovering that Hardee 
had retreated to Murfreesboro. This indicated intention 
on the part of the enemy to make a stand ; otherwise, 
Hardee would have fallen back upon Shelbyville. Gen- 
eral Crittenden fought all the w^ay to Stewart's Creek, 
with small loss, and rested on its banks, rebel pickets ap- 
pearing on the opposite banks. General Rosecrans* 
headquarters were then at a point twelve miles from 
Nashville. It seemed that the enemy would make a 
stand on Stewart's Creek, that being a good line of de- 
fence. That night General Thomas, with the divisions 
of Roussea^ and Negley, occupied Nolinsville. 

'• On the 28th General McCook completed his recon- 
noissance of Hardee's movements, and General Critten- 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 109 

den awaited results, while General Thomas moved hia 
corps across to Stewart's Creek, executing a fatiguing 
march with great energy. General Rosecrans deeming his 
junction with the left of great importance at that time. 

" On the 29th General McCook moved to Wilkinson's 
cross-roads, within seven miles of Murfreesboro, at the 
end of a short road through a rough, rolling country, 
skirted by bluffs and dense cedar thickets. General 
Crittenden moved forward with some resistance to a 
point within three miles of Murfreesboro, and found the 
enemy in force. General Negley was moved forward to 
the centre, Rousseau's division in reserve on the right of 
Crittenden's corps. General Rosecrans' headquarters 
advanced to the east side of Stewart's Creek, and after a 
hasty supper he proceeded to the front and remained on 
the field all night. He was accompanied by Lieutenant- 
Colonel Garesche, his Chief of Staff; Colonel Barnett, 
Chief of Artillery ; Major Goddard, A. A. G. ; Major 
Skinner, Lieutenant Byron Kirby, Lieutenant Bond, and 
Father Tracy, who remained faithfully with him, and at 
no time, from the beginning of the action, deserted him. 

" On the 30th General McCook advanced on the 
Wilkinson pike through heavy thickets, stubbornly re- 
sisted by the enemy — General Sheridan's division being 
in advance. General Sill's brigade constituting his right. 
The enemy developed such strength that General McCook 
directed Sheridan to form in line of battle, and the divi* 



110 LIFE OF GENEEAL SIIEHIDAN. 

sion of General Jeff. C. Davis was thrown out upon his 
right. It was now discovered that Hardee*s corps was in 
front, on the west side of the river, in line of battle, his 
front crossing our right obliquely, in position, if extended, 
to flank us. Our left stood fast, in line corresponding 
with the course of Stone River, mainly upon undulating 
fields. The centre, under Negley, slightly advanced into 
a cedar thicket, and was engaged, with great difficulty, 
in reconnoitring, under sharp resistance, and in cutting 
roads through the almost impenetrable forest, to open 
communication with the right. The contest had brought 
forward McCook's right division, facing strongly south- 
east, with the reserve division between the centre and 
right, and sufiiciently far in the rear to support, and if 
necessary to extend it — the consequences which were 
developed next day. Two brigades of Johnson's division 
— Kirk's and Willich's — were ultimately tnrown out on 
the extreme right, facing south, and somewhat in reserve, 
to make every thing secure. 

" "We were as confident that day that there would be 
battle on the next, as we were conscious of existence. A 
good many men, indeed, had akeady fallen. Rebels in 
co^xsiderable numbers were already visible across the 
plains, on the opposite side of the river. We watched 
them through our glasses with excited interest. Reports 
of menacing movements came in constantly. At last 
heavy guns were heard on the left, away in the distance, 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. Ill 

and two hours later the General was annoyed by official 
report that rebel cavalry had captured some of our wagons 
on the JeiFerson pike. Still later the daring rascals cap- 
tured another train directly in our rear, on the Murfrees- 
boro pike. A strong cavalry force was despatched after 
them, but gallant Colonel Burke, posted at Stonard Creek 
with his Thirteenth Ohio, had already sent one hundred 
and fifty of his men to intercept the marauders, and he 
recaptured most of the property. 

"• Night was approaching without battle, when Cap- 
tain Fisher, of General McCook's staff, dashed up on a 
foaming steed, bearing information that Kirby Smith, 
supported by Breckinridge, had concentrated on our left. 
' Tell General McCook,' said General E-osecrans, ' that 
if he is assured that such is the fact, he may drive Hardee 
sharply if he is ready. At all events, tell him to prepare 
for battle to-morrow morning. Tell him to jBght as if the 
fate of a great battle depended upon him. While he holds 
Hardee, the left, under Crittenden, will swing around and 
take Murfreesboro. Let Hardee attack, if he desires. It 
will suit us exactly.' 

"At seven o'clock I started through the woods to 
watch the progress of the engagement. A mile from 
quarters I met a stream of stragglers pouring through 
the thickets, reporting disaster : ' General Sill is killed^ 
General Johnson had lost three batteries — McCook's line 
is broken — the enemy is driving us — rebel cavalry is in 



112 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEEDAN. 

the rear capturing our trains.* The stragglers generally 
were not panic-stricken. Most of them had their arms ; 
but the negroes, servants, and teamsters were frantic. 

" The roar of battle approached alarmingly near and 
rapidly. It was now ascertained that the enemy had 
massed on our right and attacked along its entire line. 
Hardee and McCook had formed their lines on opposite 
sides of a valley, which narrowed toward McCook's left. 

" The enemy advanced upon him in columns of regi- 
ments massed six lines deep — sufficient to break any 
ordinary line ; but SiU gallantly received the shock and 
drove the foe clear back to his original position, where 
they re-formed. Sch^ffer and Roberts were equally suc- 
cessful. But Johnson's division, taken somewhat by sur- 
prise, was swung back like a gate, and began to crumble 
at the flanks. Two of his batteries — Edgarton's and 
Goodspeed's — were taken before a gun was fired ; the 
horses had not been harnessed, and some were even then 
going to water. This, I understand, was not thtj fault 
of Johnson, who, I am told, had issued prudent orders. 

" The enemy's line, obliquely to ours originally, had 
worked around until it flanked us almost transversely, 
giving them a direct, enfilading, and rear fire. Johnson's 
division melted away like a snowbank in spring time — 
thus imperilling Davis's division, which was also obliged 
to break. Sheridan immediately changed front to the 
rear, and his left, adjoining Negley, was forced into aB 



LIFE OF GENEEAL SHERIDAlsr. 113 

angle, which gave the enemy the decisive advantage of 
a cross-fire. Sill rallied his men again most gallantly, 
and while leading them in a charge was fatally struck, 
and died at the head of his line, a musket-ball entering 
his upper lip and ranging upward through his brain. 
General Willich, at about the same time, was captured. 
Brigadier- General Kirk was seriously wounded, and the 
gallant Colonel Roberts, of the Forty-second Illinois, while 
repulsing a fierce attack at the angle, was killed at the 
head of his brigade. Sheridan had thus lost two brigade 
commanders and Hotaling's battery. His almost orphan- 
ed division was left to protect Negley's left, in the centre, 
both Davis and Johnson being sent off from him. But 
Sheridan, by his own noble exertions, held his division 
firmly, and the Eighth division, under Negley, by desper- 
ate valor, checked the powerful masses of the enemy until 
succor could be thrown in from the left and the reserves. 
Sheridan having repulsed the enemy four times, and 
changed his front completely in face of the enemy, retired 
toward the Murfreesboro pike, bringing back his gallant 
command in perfect order. There has been no time to 
inquire into the causes of the disaster on the right, but 
obviously there was something wrong. 

" Meantime, while this losing battle was going on, 

the General Commanding had galloped into the field, 

followed by his staff and escort. He had sent a reply to 

McCook's application for aid : ' Tell General McCook I 

8 



ll'i LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 

will help liim.' In an instant he galloped to the left 
and sent forward Beatty's brigade. Moving down to the 
extreme left, he was discovered by the enemy, and a full 
battery opened upon him. Solid shot and shell stormed 
about us furiously. The General himself was unmoved 
by it, but his staff generally were more sensitive. The 
inclination to dodge was irresistible. Directly one poor 
fellow of the escort was dismounted, and his horse galloped 
frantically over the fields. The General directed Colonel 
Barnett, his cliief of artillery, to post a battery to shell 
the enemy, waiting to see it done. The Colonel galloped 
forward coolly under fire, and soon had Cox's Tenth Indi- 
ana battery lumbering away toward a commanding point. 
The officer in command wheeled into position at a point 
apparently unfavorable for sharp work. The General 
shouted ; ' On the crest ; on the crest of the hill.' On the 
crest it Avent, and in five minutes the rebels closed their 
music. Beatty's brigade was now double-quicking under 
fire obliquely from left to right, as coolly as if on parade. 
Inquiring who held the extreme left, the General was an- 
swered, Colonel Wagner's brigade. ' Tell Wagner to 
hold his position at all hazards.' Soon after Colonel 
Wagner replied, laconicaUy : ' Say to the General, I will.' 
Down at the toll-gate, on the pike, Ave get another ' bliz- 
zard,' with an interlude of Minies, which whistled about 
with an admonitory slit. The shifting scene of the battle 
now carried the General back to the centre of the field. 



LIFE OF GENEEAL SHERIDAN. 115 

The enemy were streaming through the woods a few hun- 
dred yards in front. The forest was populous with them. 
Our batteries were dashing across the plain with frightful 
vehemence, wheeling into position and firing with terrific 
rapidity. The rebel artillery played upon us remorse- 
lessly, tearing men and horses to pieces. The sharpshoot- 
ers were still more vicious. A flight of bullets passed 
tlirough the staff*. I heard an insinuating thud ! and saw 
a poor orderly within sabre distance topple from his saddle 
and tumble headlong to mother earth. One convulsive 
shudder, and he was no more. His bridle-hand clutched 
the reins in death. A comrade loosened his grasp, and 
his faithful gray stood quietly beside the corpes. Another 
bullet went through the jaw of Lieutenant Benton's beau- 
tiful chestnut. Smarting with pain, he struck violently 
with his hoofs at the invisible tormentor. Benton dis- 
mounted and awaited the anticipated catastrophe, but he 
rode his horse again all through that fiery day. One or 
two other horses were hit, and the cavalcade rushed from 
that line of fire to another, just in time to be splashed with 
mud from the spat of a six-pound shot. It seemed that 
Uiere was not a square yard on the field free from fire. 
The rattle of musketry and roar of artillery was deafen- 
ing. Still the General charged through it as if it had 
been harmless rain. It was wonderful that he escaped — 
fortunate that his uniform was covered by an overcoat. 
Galloping down again to the extreme front, an officer Id 



116 LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

range with the General was suddenly dismounted. A 
round-sliot struck his horse squarely on the thigh, knock- 
ing him a rod, and tumbling the rider all in a heap over 
the soil. Pushing out to the cedar forest, where Negley's 
gallant division was struggling against great odds, trusty 
Sheridan was met, bringing out his tried division in superb 
order. Negley was still fighting desperately against odds. 
Johnson, too, appeared soon after, but his command was 
temporarily shattered. 

" During all this period Negley's two gallant brigades, 
under valiant old Stanley (of the Eighteenth Ohio), and 
brave John F. Miller, were holding their line against fear- 
ful odds. When the right broke, Negley had pushed in 
clean ahead of the left of the right wing, and was driving 
the enemy. The Seventy-eighth Pennsylvania, Thirty- 
seventh Indiana, Twenty-first, Seventy-fourth, Eigh- 
teenth, and Sixty-ninth Ohio, the famous Nineteenth 
Illinois, and Eleventh Michigan, with Knell's, Marshall's, 
Shultz's, and Bush's batteries, sustained one of the fiercest 
assaults of the day, and the enemy was dreadfully pun- 
ished. Still they came on like famished wolves, in col- 
umns, by divisions, sweeping over skirmishers, disre- 
garding them utterly. The Nineteenth Illinois, under 
gallant young Scott, and the Eleventh Michigan, led by 
brave Stoughton, charged in advance, and drove back a 
division. The enemy, far outnumbering the splendid 
Eighth, swarmed in front, on both flankp, and finally burst 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 117 

upon its rear, reaching a point within fifty yards of Neg- 
ley's quarters before they were discovered, Negley being 
unaware of the extent of the disaster on the right. Rous- 
seau's division had been sent into the woods to support 
the Eighth, but was withdrawn before the Eighth got out. 
Negley had formed his brigades in echelon^ and seeing the 
critical nature of his position, he was obliged to order a 
retrograde movement. But even after that the Nineteenth 
Illinois and Eleventh Michigan made another dash, to the 
front, driving the enemy again, then wheeling abruptly, 
pushed steadily out of the cedars. 

" Rousseau, one of the most magnificent men on the 
field, with the port of Ajax and the fire of Achilles — no 
wonder his gallant lads adore him — did not fancy thi^ 
retrograde movement. The regulars, Twenty-fifth, Six- 
teenth, Eighteenth, and Nineteenth, under Colonel Shep*- 
herd, on his right, liked it no better. Youthful Beatty, 
Third Ohio, commanding the Seventeenth brigade, and 
Scribner with the Ninth, were also in ill-humor about it, but 
there was no help for it. After debouching from the cedars, 
Loomis and Guenther could find no good position at hand 
for their batteries, and the w^hole line fell back under severe 
fighting, the left lying flat upon the ground, the right cov- 
ered by a crest. The two batteries now swiftly wheeled 
into favorable positions and poured double-shotted canister 
into the enemy. The Twenty-third Arkansas was literally 
swept away by their devouring fire. Loomis and Guen- 



118 LIFE OF GENEEAL SHEKIDAN. 

ther were wild with delight at their success. The baffled 
enemy came no further. The field was red with the blood 
of their slain. Rousseau had sent word that he had fallen 
back to the position he then occupied. ' Tell the Gen- 
eral,' said he, ' I'll stay right here, right here ; I won't 
budge an inch.' He did stay ' right ' there. 

" The enemy had compelled us to change front com- 
pletely. General Rosecrans himself executed it at awful 
personal hazard. There was not a point in the very front 
of battle which he did not visit. Taking advantage of a 
commanding crest, on the left of the pike, he posted the 
batteries, and some twenty or thirty guns opened with 
prodigious volume. Solid shot and shell crashed through 
the populous forest in a tumult of destructive fury. The 
cloud of smoke for some minutes completely enveloped 
the gunners, and obscure^ them from view. Now, then, 
we charge. Down through the field and across the road, 
the General in the lead. Bitterly whistled the leaden 
hail. A soldier falls dead under the very hoofs of the 
Commander's horse. ' Advance the line — charge them,' 
and our gaUant lads, fired tt^ith the wild enthusiasm of the 
moment, madly push up the hill. The forests are splin- 
tered with the furious volumes of fire. On they go. Yon 
line of gray and steel halts, staggers, reels. ' There they 
go,' shouts the gallant leader. ' Now drive them home ! *■ 
Great God, what tumult in the brain. Sense reels with 
the intoxicating frenzy. There was a line of dead blue 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 119 

coats where the charge was so gallantly made ; but the 
corpses of the foe were scattered thickly through those 
woods where Beatty's brigade — Old Rich Mountain Beatty 
— made that glorious charge. It was the first encour- 
aging event of that gloomy morn. 

" Sweeping rapidly from that point to our left, the 
whole line was put in motion, and the batteries advanced. 
A few hundred yards on left of Beatty's line the enemy 
were still advancing, boldly driving a small brigade down 
a little valley before them. As the head of the retreating 
column debouched from a thicket, it was interrupted by 
the General, and re-formed by members of his staff. 
Stokes's battery advanced rapidly across the road, sup- 
ported by Captain St. Clair Morton's battalions of pio- 
neers — men selected from all regiments for their vigor 
and mechanical skill. The fire was desperately hot, but 
the General saw only a broken line which he determined 
to rally. The battery was planted on a little knoll, with 
its flanks protected by thickets, and Morton deployed his 
pioneers on either side. The battery opened briskly, and 
Morton led his battalion beautifully to the front. The 
enemy, suddenly checked by the murderous fire, staggered 
and fell back swiftly, sheltering themselves in friendly 
forests. And so, along the whole line, the enemy was 
pressed backward. The day was saved. No man dis- 
putes that the personal exertions of General Kosecraas 
retrieved the fortunes of the mornin":. 



120 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 

" At about two o'clock the enemy were discovered 
right and left of the Miirfreesboro pike, advancing in heavy 
masses to attack our left wing. Such a field of battle is 
rarely witnessed. It was a scene of appalling grandeur. 
Every feature was keenly cut and clearly defined. The 
day was one of surprising beauty. The blazing sun shone 
kindly through the canopy of smoke which expanded over 
the dreadful combat. The pomp of battalions in martial 
panoply loomed up grandly in their staunch array. At 
regular intervals there were bold figures of solitary horse- 
men standing out in sharp relief, faithful guardians of 
our brave soldiers and shining targets for the infernal 
marksmen of the foe. Gallant officers, defiantly inviting 
the murderous skill of sharpshooters ambushed behind 
every covert on the plains. Oh ! vain, sad sacrifice ! It 
thrills the soul with anguish to scan the bloody record of 
that gory day. Behind them, crowning commanding 
crests, our own fine batteries distributed over the field in 
unstudied picturesqueness, were clothed in thunder and 
and robed in sheets of smoke and flame. Horses, frantic 
with anguish of wounds, and wild with the furious tumult, 
were bounding in their leashes with desperate energy, 
seeking to fly the field. Dozens of them were torn to 
shreds. A single shell crashed through three noble beasts, 
and piled them, in dreadful confusion, under a shattered 
limber. A solid shot struck a gun-carriage and glanced 
off, taking with it the head of another horsei, Piie battery 



LIFE OF GENEEAL SHERIDAN. 121 

lost twenty-eight horses, another thirty-t^o. Hundreds 
of their carcasses were strewn upon the field. General 
McCook's horse was killed under him ; Major Caleb Bates 
lost his also. Negley's staff lost three or four. Every 
staff suffered in some degree. 

" The hostile array on the other side imparted an awful 
sublimity to the spectacle. Great masses of rebel troops 
moved steadily over the field, careless of our battery play, 
which tore open their ranks and scattered them bleeding 
upon the soil. But they marched up through the destroy- 
ing storm dauntlessly. Their batteries wheeled into posi- 
tion, and were worked with telling effect. There was a 
point, however, beyond which even their desperadoes could 
not be urged. The battle raged two hours with horrid 
slaughter, and neither side receded until nearly five o'clock, 
when the well-nigh exhausted armies suspended operations 
for the night, excepting the play of a few batteries. 

" It was a most desperate contest and undecided. The 
advantage was with the enemy. He had driven our right 
almost upon our left, compelling us to change front under 
fire, and he occupied that part of the field. He also held 
territory occupied that morning by our pickets on the left, 
but we had receded from that ground to draw him out. 
No battle was ever more fiercely fought. Daring valor 
had been displayed on either side. Victory had been 
promised to the foe, but the tenacity of our General, the 
skill with which he turned the tide of battle, his cheerful- 



122 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 

ness in the midst of adversity, the steadiness of Generals 
Thomas' and Crittenden's corps, the dauntless courage 
of Rousseau' and Negley's divisions, gave promise 
of triumph in the end. But the situation was extremely 
critical. The enemy still evinced determination to turn 
our right and cut us off from Nashville. 

" At dawn Thursday morning we renewed the battle, 
but the enemy were not disposed to accept the challenge, 
and they were posted in such a manner that a general 
attack was not deemed prudent. An hour or two later 
they moved out of position and assaulted us furiously on 
the left of the centre, and right of the left wing. After a 
severe engagement they were handsomely repulsed. That 
evening Van Cieve's division, then under the command 
of Colonel Beatty, of the Nineteenth Ohio, was thrown 
across Stone River, on our extreme left, without serious 
resistance. 

" By Friday the prospect was very cheering. Except- 
ing the reverse of Wednesday morning, the enemy had 
been driven in every engagement. The baU was opened 
early in the morning, the enemy taking the initiative. Sharp 
demonstrations were made along the whole line, but nothing 
decisive was attempted until three o'clock in the afternoon, 
when the rebels suddenly burst upon Battery Six (late 
Van Cieve's) in small divisions on the other side of Stona 
River, and drove it pell-mell with considerable loss to this 
side. The enemy, as usual, had massed its army and ad- 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 123 

v^anced in great strength. Negley's division, supported by 
that of Davis, and St. Clair Morton's pioneer battalion, 
were immediately sent forward to retrieve the disaster. 
A sanguinary conflict ensued, perhaps the most bitter of the 
whole battle. Davis also went up in gallant array. Both 
sides massed their batteries, and plied them with desperate 
enei-gy. The infantry of either side displayed great valor, 
but Negley's unconquerable Eighth division resolved to win. 
The fury of the confiict now threatened mutual annihila- 
tion, but Stanley and Miller, with the Nineteenth Illinois, 
Eighteenth, Twenty-first, and Seventy-fourth Ohio, Seven- 
ty-eighth Pennsylvania, Eleventh Michigan, and Thirty- 
seventh Indiana, charged simultaneously, and drove the 
enemy rapidly before them, capturing a battery and taking 
the flag of the Twenty-sixth Tennessee, the color-sergeant 
being killed with a bayonet. The banner is the trophy of 
the Seventy-eighth Pennsylvania. The fire of our bat- 
teries exceeded in vigor even the cannonading of Wednes- 
day. At about sunset the whole rebel line receded, leaving 
about four hundred prisoners in our custody. 

" General Rosecrans, as usual, was in the midst of the 
fray, directing the movement of troops and the range of 
batteries. Our victory was clean and destructive. The 
enemy lost over a thousand men, including, it is said, Brig- 
adier-General Roger Hanson, of Kentucky. Again our 
brave lads shouted. The woods sounded with the 
joyful acclaim. Officers of Negley's division galloped 



124 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 

swiftly across the field, trailing the captured flag ; a thou- 
sand willing hands seized the captured guns and dragged 
them into camp. But this was the glorification. The 
Commander sought the real results. Masses of troops 
were ordered to follow the sullen enemy, and the yell of 
pursuers and clatter of musketry resounded far into night. 
The darkness, however, caused suspension of the pursuit. 
" Friday night it rained heavily, and Saturday a storm 
raged all day. Early in the morning a brigade of rebels 
made a sudden dash upon the Forty-second Indiana, and 
cut it up seriously. After that the day was quiet, saving 
a persecution of our pickets by sharpshooters, who took 
shelter in a residence on the pike. General Rousseau, dis- 
satisfied with such proceedings, directed the batteries of 
Loomis and Guenther to batter down the house, and in 
fifteen minutes nothing was left of it ; a number of rebels 
were killed, including the colonel of the First Louisiana 
regiment. At dark, Rousseau determined to carry the war 
a little further into Dixie. A rebel breastwork in his front, 
occupied by a brigade during the day, had covered trouble- 
some marksmen. Colonel Beatty was ordered to carry the 
work with the Third Ohio and Sixty-eighth Indiana. The 
lads went in gallantly, and a sharp night engagement en- 
sued, resulting in the complete rout of the enemy, and the 
capture of a number of prisoners. Our troops held the 
work, and this morning the enemy were not at Murfrees* 
boro. They had fled. 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEKIDAN. 125 

" The battle of Stone River will ever be distinguished 
as one of the most obstinately contested of the war. The 
strength of the hostile armies was about equal. There may 
have been a slight disparity of numbers in our favor, but this 
is doubtful. We had prisoners representing about eighty 
regiments, from all the rebellious States. But whatever 
disparity, if any, of numbers there was in our favor, was 
more than equalized by choice of position." 

General Rousseau commanding the reserves, when press- 
ing forward into the cedars, whose funereal gloom made 
the terrible combat emphatically like a fight in Pandemo- 
nium, to cover Sheridan and Negley's retreat through the 
gloomy shadows filled with death, said with a startlin;];, 
and, but for its truthfulness, profane emphasis : " I knew 
it was hell in there before I got in, but I was convinced 
of it when I saw Phil Sheridan, with hat in one hand and 
sword in the other, fighting as if he were the devil incar- 
nate, or had had a fresh indulgence from Father Tracy 
every five minutes." Father Tracy was Rosecrans' chap- 
lain, and often officiated at Sheridan's headquarters 
Sheridan is a member of the Roman Catholic Church. 

When Sheridan had extricated his command from the 
forest and got in line with the reserves, he rode up to Rose- 
crans, and, pointing to the remnant of his division, said, 
" Here is all that is left of us. General. Our cartridge- 
boxes contain nothing, and our guns are empty." 

In his report of the struggle. General Rosecrans saya 



I 26 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 



of t-Lii* heroic General : " Sheridan, after sustaining foul 
Buc^i^ssive attacks, gradually swung his right from a south- 
easieriy to northwesterly direction, repulsing the enemy 
four times, losing the gallant General Sill of his right and 
Colonel Roberts of his left brigade, when, having ex- 
hausted his ammunition — Negley's division being in the 
same predicament, and heavily pressed — after desperate 
fighting, they fell back from the position held at the com- 
mencement, through the cedar woods, in which Kosseau's 
division^ with a portion of Negley's and Sheridan's, met 
the advancing enemy and checked his movements. For 
distinguished acts of individual zeal, heroism, gallantry, 
and good conduct, I refer to the accompanying list of 
special mentions and recommendations for promotion, 
wherein are named some of the many noble men who 
have distinguished themselves and done honor to their 
country and the starry symbol of its unity. But those 
named there are by no means all whose names wall be 
inscribed on the rolls of honor we are preparing, and hope 
to have held in grateful remembrance by our countrymen. 
To say that such men as Major-Gen. G. H. Thomas, true 
and prudent, distinguished in council and on many battle- 
fields for his courage ; or Major-General McCook, a 
tried, faithful, and loyal soldier, w^ho bravely breasted 
battle at Shiloh and at Perryville, and as bravely on the 
bloody field of Stone River ; and Major-General Thomas 
L. Crittenden, whose heart is that of a true soldier and 



LITE OF GENEEA.L SHEEIDAN. 127 

patriot, and whose gallantry, often attested by his com- 
panions in arms in other fields, witnessed many times in 
this army long before I had the honor to command it, 
never more conspicuously than in this combat, maintained 
their high character throughout this action, but feebly ex- 
presses my feeling of obligation to them for counsel and 
support from the time of my arrival to the present hour. 
I doubly thauk them, as well as the gallant, ever-ready 
Major-General Rousseau, for their support in this battle. 
Brigadier-General D. S. Stanley, already distinguished 
for four successful battles — Island No. Ten, May 27th, 
before Corinth, luka, and the battle of Corinth — at this 
time in command of our ten regiments of cavalry, fought 
the enemy's forty regiments of cavalry, and held them at 
bay, and beat them wherever he could meet them. He 
ought to be made a major-general for his services, and 
also for the good of the service. As for such brigadiers 
as Negley, Jefferson C. Davis, Johnson, Palmer, Hascal, 
Van Cleve, Wood, Mitchell, Cruft, and Sheridan, they 
ought to be made major-generals in our service." 

The recommendation to higher duty and honors was 
heartily responded to by our noble President. The nom- 
ination of General Sheridan to a major-generalship was 
made and confirmed by the Senate the last day of the 
eventful year 1862. 




CHAPTER Vn. 

The condition of the National Cause — General Sheridan's Movements— Raiding 
and Drilling — Other Cavalry Operations at this time — Generals Stoneman, 
Buford, and Kilpatrick — The great Kaid on Eichmond — A curious Incident. 

JTH the dawn of 1863 we find the Union cause 
under the cloud of gloomy apprehension, to a 
large portion of the people. General Burnside 
had been defeated at Fredericksburg ; General 
Grant's campaign against Vicksburg, made a 
failure by the cowardly surrender of Holly Springs, com- 
pelled him to pauisc, while General Sherman attempted 
alone an assault, in anticipation of his arrival, and signally 
failed for lack of sufficient force. The defeat of the rebels 
at Stone lliver was too expensive to the Union troops to 
relieve the darkness. Still there were many in and out 
of the army whose courage and hope remained unbroken. 
The brave " boys" prepared for new campaigns with the 
approaching spring. 

In March, 1863, General Sheridan went galloping 
along the enemy's lines, leading his troopers to the very 



LIFE OF GENEKAL SHEKIDAN. 129 

outposts of their encampment, reconnoitring, snatching 
up prisoners, skirmishing, and driving back cavalry forces 
which crossed his path, and returning, after a most ?suc- 
cessful expedition, with only five killed and the same 
number wounded. The lull in activity which followed for 
two months in his department, was improved by untiring 
attention to the discipline of his troops, preparatory to a 
grand movement of the Army of the Cumberland. Mean- 
while the attempts made by General Grant's command 
through the canals and bayous to reach Vicksburg had 
been abandoned, and he began the splendid campaign 
overland to the rear of the city, which resulted in its cap- 
ture on the 4th of July. 

To aid in the bold movement, it was desirable to cut 
the rebel communications vdih Vicksburg to prevent an 
attack behind, should he invest the place. For this 
perilous adventure General Grant detailed Colonel B. H 
Grierson, of the First Cavalry brigade. One of the 
greatest feats of our horsemen during the war was per- 
formed in this expedition, and deserves a notice here. 

The brigade, which consisted of Elinois and Iowa 
troops, started from La Grange, Tennessee, April 17th, 
1863, at two o clock in the morning. Away they ride fo^ 
the railways, and across forests, open fields, and ingntial 
swamps ; now flying yonder, to deceive the rebels in re- 
gard to the real design, and then in the opposite uirec- 
tion, tearing up a track, capturing a train, or burnmg a 
9 



130 ■ LITE OF GENERAL SHEErDAN". 

mill. Amusing scenes enlivened the raiders' wild career. 
Some of them, stopping at a wealthy planter's house, who 
was also a guerrilla, passed themselves off as Van Doru's 
men ; for many of our soldiers, in these adventures, wore 
*' secesh" uniforms. Finding splendid horses in his barn, 
they began to change the saddles from their tried steeds 
to the backs of his. 

" Can't spare 'em, gentlemen ! can't let these horses 
go ! " protested the planter. 

" We must have them. You want us to catch the 
Yankees, and we shall have to hurry to do it," replied 
the raiders. 

" All right, gentlemen ; I'll keep your animals till you 
return. I suppose you'll be back in two or three days at 
the farthest. "When you return, you'll find they have 
been well cared for." 

The guerrilla is probably waiting still for his friends 
and horses. 

A young lady thus complains : " The first thing they 
did was to carry off Lizzie's buggy.. They broke into the 
storeroom and took sister Emily's wine, which they car- 
ried away and drank the next morning. As we sat quietly 
aAvaiting our fate, still hoping that God — in whose care 
Ma had at the beginning placed us, kneeling with us in 
earnest prayer — would yet save us, we heard them danc- 
ing, whooping, breaking, and plundering away over the 
house. They stole all my jewelry ; they broke all sister 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 131 

Emily's pictures. Nan [a servant] was very much dis- 
tressed at their taking the blankets." 

Poor girl ! we smile at and pity her. War is no re- 
specter of persons, nor very particular about the amount 
of damage done along his path. ^ 

East, northwest, and south the forces dash, apparently 
without order, and yet according to a well-matured plan. 
The main body of cavalry presses on, to cut a path 
through to our lines near New Orleans. Rebel camps 
are destroyed ; and, when hotly pursued. Colonel Grierson 
dashes on a bridge, and burning it behind him, gains time 
to escape. Thus hurried along the troopers till the 22d, 
when the march was indeed " terrible, because the swamps 
of the Okanoxubee E-iver were overflowed. After moving 

o 

four miles south of Louisville, they marched a distance 
of eight miles through a swamp. On each side of the 
road were enormous trees, and the water was, every- 
where, from three to four feet deep ; with every few hun- 
dred yards a mire-hole in which frequently, for a few 
moments, man and horse were lost to view. The Seventh 
Illinois being in the rear, found these holes almost impas- 
sable, from the action of the large body of cavalry which 
had preceded them,, and they were compelled to leave 
drowned some twenty noble animals, whose strength was 
not equal to such an emergency. The men so dismounted 
removed their saddles, placed them on some other led 
beasts, and pushed onward cheerfully. 



132 llfe of general shekidan. 

" On the 23d they broke camp at seven o'clock a. m., 
crossed the Pearl River at half-past four p. m., and took 
refreshments at Squire Payne's. A glance at the map 
will show the importance of Pearl River. Knowing it 
to be quite high from heavy rains, and aware also that as 
rebel scouts had preceded them, it was of the utmost con- 
sequence to secure Pearl River bridge, Colonel Prince, 
who was in advance with the Seventh Illinois, pushed for- 
ward with energy, and, by very fast riding, succeeded in 
getting to the bridge and driving away a picket, before 
they had time to tear up more than a few planks, which 
were replaced in a few minutes. The gallant colonel de- 
voutly speaks of this as one of the many instances in 
which a divine Providence seemed to be shielding them 
during their whole perilous journey ; for the destruction 
of this bridge would have been, in aU probability, fatal to 
the whole expedition. 

" Although Colonel Prince on the 27th had marched 
his regiment forty-one miles, during a large portion of the 
time through drenching rain, he firmly believed that, as 
the citizens were arming themselves, and the news about 
them was flying in all directions, it was a matter of life 
and death that Pearl River should be crossed, and the 
New Orleans and Jackson Railroad reached without any 
delay whatever. He therefore obtained permission from 
Colonel Grierson to move directly forward with two hun- 
dred picked men of his regiment, to secure the ferry 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 133 

across Pearl River before the enemy should be able to 
destroy it. The distance to the river was thirteen miles, 
and from there to Hazlehurst's Station was twelve miles. 
The remainder of the two regiments were to come for- 
ward as soon as they were sufficiently rested. 

" Colonel Prince started with the two hundred at one 
A. M., and reached the bank of the river before daylight, 
when, contrary to his information, the flat-boat was upon 
the opposite side of the river. Not daring to call out, he 
spoke to a volunteer, who, with a powerful horse, under- 
took to swim the river ; but the rapidity of the swollen 
stream carried him below the landing, where there was a 
quicksand, and he barely returned to shore with his life. 

"A few moments later a man came down from the 
house toward the river, and, in true North Carolina ac- 
cent, asked, in a careless way, if we wanted to cross ; to 
which he got a reply — in a very capital imitation of his 
twang — that a few of them did want to go across, and 
that it seemed harder to wake up his nigger ferryman 
than to catch the conscripts. The proprietor took the 
bait, apologized for the detention, and woke up his ferry- 
man, who immediately brought over the boat, which 
thenceforward became the property of Uncle Sam — the 
proprietor all the while believing he was lavishing his at- 
tentions on the First regiment of Alabama cavalry, fresh 
from Mobile ! The breakfast given to the Alabama col- 
onel that morning was highly relished and appreciated f 



LITE OF GENERAL SnERIDAN. 

but too much time was not spent over it, and the imports 
ance of speed was clearly proved, only half an hour after- 
ward, when they caught a courier flying to the ferry with 
the news that the Yankees were coming, and that all the 
ferries were to be immediately destroyed. 

" At Hazle hurst station. Colonel Prince succeeded in 
capturing a large number of cars, four or five being 
loaded with shell and ammunition, and others with army 
stores. The whole of this property was utterly destroyed. 

" And here comes one of the most amusing episodes 
of the whole affair. Captain Forbes, who had been sent 
to Macon from near Starkville, rejoined the command 
just as they had all crossed Pearl River. Having been 
unable to take Macon, he followed their trail to Newton, 
where he was informed that they had gone to Enterprise, 
on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. He followed on to 
that place, and marched with his little squad into town, 
where he found about three thousand rebel troops just 
getting off the cars. He promptly raised a flag of truce, 
and boldly rode forward, demanding the surrender of the 
place, in the name of Colonel Gricrson. The command- 
ing rebel officer. Colonel Goodwin, asked one hour to con- 
sider the proposition, and wished to know where Captain 
Forbes would be at that time. The Captain answered 
that he would go back with the reply to the reserve ; 
which he did pretty rapidly, after having shrewdly ascer- 
tained the strengh of the enemy. It is not known whether 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAX. 135 

EiJterprisc ever surrendered or not, or whether the rebel 
colonel is still trying to find the 'reserve' to make his 
penitent bow ; but one thing is certain, that Captain 
Forbes, with his little squad of thirty-five men, did not 
intend to take those three thousand rebels prisoners — that 
time at least — and. was laughing in his sleeve many miles 
off while those Enterprise-ing people were trembling in 
their boots — id es^, if, at the present fabulous price of 
leather, they had any boots to tremble in. 

" The Mobile Register of the 28th, in the depth of its 
consternation and chagrin, treats this ridiculous sell with 
the most absurd and amusing gravity. ' The only thing 
satisfactorily explained,' says the oracular Register^ ' is 
that they ran away from Enterprise as soon as they 
heard that "Old Blizzard" was about.' The Register 
little thought that it was only thirty-five brave fellows 
whom its terrified imagination had converted into ' one 
thousand five hundred Yankees.' 

" On May 1st they left camp at daylight, and proceed- 
ing in a southwesterly direction through the woods, with- 
out regard to roads, came into the Clinton and Osyka 
road, near a bridge four miles northeast of Wall's post- 
office. About eighty of the enemy were lying in ambush 
near the bridge. Lieutenant-Colonel Blackburn, unfor- 
tunately with more bravery than discretion, proceeded 
across the bridge at the head of the scouts and of com- 
pany G, Seventh Illinois. He was seriously wounded in 



136 LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

the thigL, and slightly in the head. Colonel Prince ira* 
mediately caused his men to dismount, to skirmish the 
enemy out of the bushes, and, with the assistance of Cap- 
tain Smith's battery, soon put them to flight. 

'' This affair at the bridge detained the column but a 
few minutes. They marched all night, and crossed the 
Amite River about ten p. M., without opposition, the 
picket being asleep. They had marched forty miles this 
day. They marched again early on the morning of May 
2d, and the Sixth Illinois being in advance, surprised and 
burned a rebel camp at Sandy Creek bridge. At this 
point the Seventh IlHnois was ordered in advance, and, 
at about nine a. m., as a crowning glory to this most ex- 
traordinary series of adventures, captured forty-two 
of Stewart's Mississippi cavalry on Comite River, in- 
cluding their colonel. 

" This noble band of toil-worn heroes arrived at Baton 
Rogue about noon of May 2d, where their triumphal entry 
created a furore of joyful excitement that wiU not cease 
till it has thrilled every loyal heart upon this continent — 
aye, every heart that loves liberty and human bravery 
throughout the civilized world. 

" Some idea of the pluck and enduratice of these men 
can be gleaned from the fact that during the last thirty 
hours, in which they had ridden eighty miles, fought two 
or three skirmishes, destroyed bridges, camps, equipages, 
etc., swam a river and captured forty-two prisoners and 



LIFE OF GENEEAL SHERIDAN. 137 

a large number of horses, they had scarcely halted at 
all, and went through these terrific exertions without 
food for man or beast ! Durinoj the last nio-ht it was ob- 
served that nearly the entire column, worn out almost 
beyond human endurance, were fast asleep upon horse- 
back, except when the sharp report of a carbine told of 
the nearness of the enemy. And all this was rendered 
without one word of murmur or complaint from any hp, 
either of officers or privates." 

In fifteen days eight hundred miles had been travelled, 
four million dollars' worth of property destroyed, and the 
alarming, humbling fact forced home on the heart of the 
foe, that the moment of fancied security might be that of 
the greatest danger. The news cheered not only the 
advancing host of General Grant, but also the impatient 
legions of the Cumberland army, getting ready to move, 
with the chivalrous Sheridan's horsemen to emulate such 
daring and success. 

During the very l?<st days of Colonel Grierson's march, 
General George Stoneman, chief of cavalry in the Army 
of the Potomac, was dashing on to Richmond to do a 
similar work for Hooker, who was about to move on the 
enemy, which the former had accomplished for Grant — 
t. e., cut the communications between the army at Chan- 
cellorsville and the capital. In this grand ride through 
Virginia, General John Buford was one of the most gal- 
lant leaders. He and Stoneman graduated at the Military 



138 LIFE OF GENEEAL SHEEIDAN. 

Academy at West Point ; the former two years before 
Sheridan entered that institution, the latter in 1848, the 
very summer of his admission. These three, with Kil- 
patrick, also with Stoneman and after with Sherman, 
form a splendid quartette of cavalry chiefs, whose names 
will ever shine on the record of national victories while 
our flag floats in the breeze. 

General Buford was a Kentuckian, born in 1827. He 
was a finished horseman and ofiicer — a generous, high- 
minded, loyal man ; and died in his prime at Washington, 
December 16th, 1863, of pneumonia and typhoid fever, 
contracted in his exhausting marches and exposure, uni- 
versally lamented. He was a kind, humane commander. 
After a day's toilsome ride he not unfrequently, in a wild 
thunder storm, would rise from a brief repose to rub 
down and protect the noble animals which bore their 
weary riders safely over hostile soil. 

General Stoneman was born at Burtis, Chatauque 
County, N. Y., August 8, 1822, and, like General Sher- 
idan, went soon after his graduation to the Pacific coast. 
When the rebellion thundered forth its challenge to free- 
.dom in Charleston harbor, he was in command of Fort 
Brown in Texas, whose surrender was demanded by 
General Twiggs of the rebel army. The heroic Stone- 
man promptly, indignantly refused. Learning that it 
was determined to withdraw the Union forces from the 
State, he immediately chartered a st3amer, taking with 



LIFE OF GENEEAL SHEKIDAIT. 139 

him whatever he could convey of the Government prop- 
erty, and reached New York the middle of March. The 
following June he was major of the cavalry, and in Au- 
gust, 1861, brigadier and chief of cavalry. He is a noble 
officer and man. 

In the raid to cooperate with General Hooker, while 
Sheridan was drilling his brigade for brilliant work at 
hand in his department, there was some of the most ro- 
mantic, perilous, and successful riding in the annals of 
the cavalry. One who rode in this wild gallop says of 
the affair, which was fairly opened by crossing the Rap- 
pahannock : 

" General Stoneman, with the bulk of his command, 
remained near Kelly's ford until nightfall, when the 
order to march was given, and the whole force crossed 
and bivouacked a short distance beyond a little rivulet, 
now much swollen by the recent rains, known as Flesh- 
man's River. Here, in an open ploughed field, the troops 
slept soundly, without other protection from a cold, piti- 
less rain-storm that prevailed all night, than that afforded 
by their blankets and rubber cloths. The night was 
dreary in the extreme. All fires were prohibited, all 
bugle calls were suspended, and orders were delivered 
sotto voice, so that the enemy should have no opportunity 
whatever of judging of the number or position of the 
force. These precautions were carefully observed dur- 
ing the nine days' campaign, and to this may be at/- 



140 LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

tribiited in part the success of the enterprise with so 
little loss. 

" Thursday morning, April 30th, the whole command 
was aroused from slumber before daylight ; after a little 
shaking and wringing, 'boots and saddle' was whispered 
to the different commanders, and we Vv^ere soon upon the 
road again. The facility with which man adapts himself 
to any circumstances, particularly if a little disagreeable 
in point of fact, was exemplified that morning. The 
night had been cold and wet, just about as disagreeable 
weather as one meets during a lifetime, and nearly every- 
body was drenched to the skin, and jet not a man could 
have been found willing to own that he was in any way 
uncomfortable. In fact, the comfortable night's rest ob- 
tained in three inches of mud and water, was the boast 
of every one. ' Never slept better in my life,' said a 
gentleman of the medical persuasion, who had just wrung 
the water out of his blankets and seated himself in a 
soaked saddle, and who the day before was suffering the 
torment of rheumatic pains from head to foot. What the 
worthy doctor expressed, all experienced. Our pickets 
were charged upon during the night by strolling rebel 
cavalry, but the camp was not alarmed ; in fact, the affaii 
was not generally known in camp. The same movement 
was repeated at early dawn, without damage. Our troops 
are quite conscious of their strength, and will not easily 
be scared from their purpose. The command, which had 



LIFE OF GENEEAL SHERIDAN. 141 

before been culled of all sick men and doubtful horse8, 
was culled again to-day, and all pack animals save about 
twenty, all weak horses, and all sick or weak-kneed 
troops were sent back across the river. The approach 
of the force had been heralded, but no one believed it. 
The man who went to the trouble of riding ten miles to 
give the inhabitants notice, was almost mobbed by the 
people — they doubted his sanity. ' What ! Yankees near 
Columbia?* said one citizen. 'It is impossible; Jeff 
Davis would not permit such an invasion ' of the sacred 
soil. The furnisher of the unwelcome news had dirt 
thrown at him, was hooted at, and followed by a croAvd 
of excited people, who were threatening him with all 
sorts of vengeance, just as the advance-guard of Colonel 
Wyndham's force, under Major Beaumont, dashed into 
town. There were no soldiers there. A dozen or more 
citizens succeeded in escaping across the river, and spread- 
ing the astounding intelligence, and soon after a squad of 
troopers appeared in the distance on the opposite bank. 
The people south of the river did not believe the story 
told by the fugitives. One man rode with his servant 
dowm to the river-bank to see for himself. The servant 
seized upon the opportunity to ride into our Unes. He 
was not pursued. A planter sent a son mounted on a 
valuable horse to ascertain the news, believing the force 
to be Stuart's cavalry. The boy asked an officer if the 
Yankees had been whipped, and was told that they had. 



142 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEKEDAJSr. 

He expressed his satisfaction, and was about leavinf^^, 
when the officer told him he wanted a horse, his own was 
jaded. An exchange was speedily made. The boy was 
evidently somewhat puzzled at this summary proceeding, 
but thought it all right no doubt, as it was Stuart's cav- 
alry, and he rode off to tell his father tlie news. A negro 
who manifested some joyful emotion upon hearing that 
the Yankees were coming, was severely whipped by his 
master just below Columbia, a few hours before we 
reached the spot. The negro, upon being released, re- 
iterated his former expression, and an attempt was made 
to whip him again. But he escaped, jumped into the 
river, and was drowned. The old negro preacher on the 
plantation where the above occurred, told me that his 
master ' cursed de Yankees cause dey made 'im loss a 
fifteen-hundred-dollar nigger.' 

" General Stoneman moved about within the enemy's 
lines at will for nine days, with a force not exceeding five 
thousand men ; disabled every line of communication be- 
tween the army of the Rappahannock and the rebel cap- 
ital, and the canal through which more than one-half of 
their supplies were received — so that, in the opinion of 
competent judges, neither line, provided the rebels have 
every facility for the work, could be repaired in less than 
four weeks ; destroyed millions of dollars' worth of com* 
missary stores, and other supplies ; obstructed travel 
upon (he main pikes, by destroying all bridges over large 



LIFE OF GENERAL SIIEEIDAN. 143 

Streams ; gave the citizens of ten counties, namely, Cul- 
pepper, Spottsylvania, Orange, Hanover, Henrico, Louisa, 
Goochland, Fluvanna, King William, and New Kent, an 
opportunity to see for themselves that not only are the 
Yankee soldiers confident and in good spirits, but are 
really human beings and not inhuman savages, as repre- 
sented by the Richmond chivalry ; captured hundreds of 
horses, and, above all, met the one great objection made 
to the Emancipation Proclamation, so far as the counties 
visited are concerned, by letting the colored population 
know that they are free, and weakening the producing 
class in rebeldom by the removal of hundreds of able- 
bodied men, and sowing the seed of demoralization among 
the rest, so that the laboring class, in fact as well as the- 
ory, becomes a dangerous element. All this has been ac- 
complished by the raid of General Stoneman, with the 
loss, probably, of less than one hundred men, only two 
of whom were killed. As an offset to this loss, our 
troops killed a number of rebels, and captured between 
one and two hundred prisoners." 

The following is a summary of the work accomplished 
by General Stoneraan's expediti<^u : Bridges destroyed, 22 ; 
culverts do., 7 ; ferries do., 5 , railroads broken, places, 7 ; 
supply trains burned, 4 ; wagons destroyed, 122 ; horses 
captured, 200 ; mules do., 104 ; canals broken, 3 ; canal 
boats burned, 5 ; trains of cars destroyed, 3 ; storehouses 
burned, 2 ; telegraph stations do., 4 ; wires cut, places, 



144 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 

5 ; depots burned, 3 ; towns visited, 25 ; contrabands 
liberated, 150. 

General Stoneman was within the enemy's fortifica- 
tions, and gave Richmond such a fright as never befor 
spread paleness on the faces of the chivalry of the Con- 
federacy. Among the curious incidents which marked 
the course of the raid, the following is very striking : 

" In the movement of Stoneman's cavalry the advance 
was led by Lieutenant Paine, of the First Maine cavalry. 
Being separated by a considerable distance from the main 
body, he encountered unexpectedly a superior force of 
rebel cavalry, and his whole party were taken prisoners. 
They were hurried off as rapidly as possible, to get them 
out of the way of our advancing force, and in crossing a 
rapid and deep stream Lieutenant Henry, commanding 
the rebel force, was swept off his horse. As none of his 
men seemed to think or care any thing about saving him, 
his prisoner, Lieutenant Paine, leaped off his horse, seized 
the drowning man by the collar, sw^am ashore \Yith him, 
and saved his life, thus literally capturing his captor. He 
was sent to Richmond with the rest of the prisoners, and 
the facts being made known to General Fitz-Hugh Lee, 
he wrote a statement of them to General Winder, the 
Provost-Marshal of Richmond, who ordered the instant 
release of Lieutenant Paine, without even parole, prom- 
ise, or condition, and, we presume, with the compliments 
of the Confederacy. He arrived at Washington safely 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 145 

This act of generosity as well as justice must command 
our highest admiration. There is some hope for men 
who can behave in such a manner. 

" But the strangest part of the story is yet to come. 
Lieutenant Paine, on arriving in Washington, learned that 
the officer whose life he had thus gallantly saved had since 
been taken prisoner by our forces, and had just been con- 
fined in the Old Capitol Prison. The last we heard of 
him he was on his way to General Martindale's head- 
quarters, to obtain a pass to visit his beneficiary and ben- 
efactor. Such are the vicissitudes of war." 



10 



CHAPTER Vni. 

The Summer Army "Work — The Advance of the Army of the Cumberland- 
Sheridan's Position — Liberty Gaj) — On to Chattanooga— Chiekamauga— 
The Deadly Conflict— The Pause in the Strife. 



HE month of May was distinguished for two im- 
portant resuhs in the movements of the armies 




— ^the defeat of General Hooker at Chancellors- 
ville, and the successful arrival of General 
Grant's army at Vicksburg, investing that 
stronghold of rebellion in the southwest. 

June 23d, General Rosecrans set the army-front 
toward Chattanooga. His rendezvous, you recollect, 
was at Murfreesboro, and his grand object directly in 
view was to drive the rebels from Middle Tennessee. 
Their main base of supplies was at Chattanooga, which 
you will see by the map lies southeast of Mm-freesboro, 
and near the Georgia boundary. Bragg's army lay in- 
trenched north of Duck Ri^ er, from Shelbyville to War- 
trace, McMinnsville, Columbia, and Spring Hill. Be- 
tween Murfreesboro and his lines were rocky heights, 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 147 

through which were passes for the routes of travel called 
Hoover's Gap, Liberty Gap, and Guy's Gap, all held by 
the rebels. 

Sheridan Avas in General McCook's corps, which moved 
along the Shelbyville road, and was to advance on Liberty 
Gap, " one of the keys to the rebel position." The brave 
Stanley's cavalry, supported by General Granger's infantry, 
hurried forward to Guy's Gap. The rain fell in torrents, 
but with cheerful courage the cavalry led toward the brist- 
ling passes and the defiant army of Bragg, the Army of the 
Cumberland, " dragging," says General Rosecrans, " their 
artillery and themselves through the mud into position. It 
is a singular characteristic of the soil on the ' barrens,' 
that it becomes so soft and spongy that wagons cut into it 
as if it were a swamp, and even horses cannot pass over 
it without similar results. The terrible effect of the rains 
on the passage of our troops may be inferred from the 
single tact that General Crittenden required four days of 
incessant labor to advance the distance of twenty-one 
miles. 

" While the troops were thus moving into position, 
General Thomas sent Steadman's brigade of Brannan's 
division, two regiments of Reynolds' division, and two 
regiments of Negley's division, on separate roads, to re- 
connoitre the enemy's position, while General Sheridan 
sent Bradley's brigade of his own division on another 
for the same purpose. These reconnoissances all returned 



]48 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEroAN. 

and reported having found the enemy in force on all roads 
except the one leading to Estill Springs. Scouts all con- 
firmed this, with the fact that it was the general belief 
that Braofoj would fifijht us in his intrenchments at Tulla- 
homa. 

"Meanwhile we had information that Stanley's cav- 
alry, supported by Major-General Granger's infantry, and 
acting under his general directions, had attacked the ene- 
my's cavalry and artillery at Guy's Gap, on the Murfrees- 
boro and Shelbyville pike, and driven them from stand to 
stand, killing, wounding, and capturing as they went, un- 
til the enemy reached their intrenchments, from which 
they were soon driven by flanking and a direct- charge, 
wherein the cavalry captured three pieces of artillery, 
some with loads in, but not rammed down. 

" From their intrenchments the rebels fled to town, 
when they made another stand, but in vain. Our cavalry 
came down with resistless sweep, and drove them in con- 
fusion into the river. Many were killed and drowned, 
and Shelbyville, with a large number of prisoners, a 
quantity of arms and commissary stores, were the crowTi- 
ing results of the cavalry operations that day. It was 
worthy of note that the waving of flags and cheers of 
w<5lcome from the inhabitants of this unconquerable strong- 
bold of loyalty, doubtless added vigor and energy to the 
advance of our troops. The reports from this cav- 
alry battle showed also the enemy's withdrawal on Tul- 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEKIDAN. 149 

lahoma, and the general expectation that he would fight 
there. 

" July 3d, General Sheridan succeeded in crossing 
Elk River, and, supported bj General J. C. Davis's di^'i- 
sion, pursued the enemy to Cowan, where he learned the 
enemy had crossed the mountains with his artillery and 
infantry by University and Sweden's Cove, and that the 
cavalry only would be found covering their rear. Gen- 
eral Thomas got over his troops the same day, Negley's 
division moving on the Brakefield Point road toward the 
University. Sheridan sent some cavalry from his position, 
and Stanley some from the main column, now in pursuit ; 
but they only developed the fact that the enemy was gone, 
and as our troops were out of provisions, and the roads 
worn well-nigh impracticable from rain and travel, they 
were obliged to halt till their supplies could be brought 
forward from Murfreesboro, to which point the wagons 
had been sent for that purpose. 

" Thus ended a nine days' campaign, which drove the 
enemy from two fortified positions, and gave us possession 
of Middle Tennessee, conducted in one of the most extra- 
ordinary rains ever known in Tennessee at that period of 
tlie year, over a soil that becomes almost a quicksand. 
Our operations were retarded thirty-six hours at Hoover's 
G ap, and sixty hours at and in front of Manchester, which 
alone prevented us from getting possession of his commu- 
nications, and forcing the enemy to a very disastrous battle 



150 LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

These results were far more successful than was an- 
ticipated, and could only have been obtained by a surprise 
as to the direction and force of our movement." 

While these movements in Tennessee preparatory to 
great battles were in progress, the blackness of the war's 
most frightful eclipse was spreading over the North. Gen. 
Lee's proud and apparently resistless legions approached 
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Whether any successful bar- 
rier could oppose their advance upon Northern soil, was 
the thrilling question which agitated millions of hearts. 
Although Vicksburg was yielding to the unrelenting and 
unruffled Grant, the country, watching this threatening 
tide of invasion, knew it not. 

July 1st and 2d were bloody but undecisive days of 
conflict. And it will interest you to read the exultation 
of the Richmond papers at this crisis, particularly so in the 
fearful light they present. Wrote the Enquirer : 

" General Lee's magnificent victory at Gettysburg 
has, doubtless, cost us very dear, as many of us will know 
too well when the sad details come in. At present we have 
only the great and glorious result — the greatest army of 
the Yankee nation swept aw^ay, trampled under foot, and 
all but annihilated upon its soil ; the best part of Penn- 
sylvania laid under contribution to sustain our army, and, 
in some small measure, make good our heavy losses ; the 
second city on the continent open to our armies, and al- 
ready reckoning up the number of millions it must pay to 



LITE OF GENERAL SHEKIDAN. 151 

ransom it from pillage and conflagration ; our o^vn city 
of Baltimore waiting its deliverance with a passionate but 
, secret joy ; and Washington, that foul den of thieves, ex- 
pecting the righteous vengeance of Heaven for the hideous 
crimes that have been done within its walls. In Phila- 
delphia, how the Quakers quake this day ! In Washing- 
ton, how the whole brood of Lincoln and his rascal min- 
isters turn pale ; how their knees smite together as they 
hear from afar off the roar of their grand Army of the 
Potomac rolled back in bloody rout and dismay, and see 
flashing through their guilty dreams the avenging bayo- 
nets of those they dared to call ' rebels ! ' Ha ! does their 
monstrous crime weigh heavy on their souls to-day ? Min- 
gling with the cheers that greeted the sweet perorations 
of their Fourth of July ' orators of the day,* do their ears 
hear the wail of the homeless and the fatherless whose 
houses they have laid in ashes, whose pride and strength 
they have laid low in the graves of a hundred battle-fields ? 
Yes, they begin to feel that they were in the wrong ; that 
there was some mistake somewhere ; and for the first time 
they pray for peace. 

" But this is only their first lesson. It is probable that 
our peace commissioners will have many such to administer 
before the enemy shall be perfectly satisfied that there is 
no possible peace for him until he withdraws every soldier 
from the soil of every State, including Missouri, Kentucky, 
Maryland, and Delaware, and yield up to their lawful 



152 LIFE OF GENEEAL SHERIDAN. 

owners every town and fort he holds all around our borders. 
Cincinnati^ for example^ would, we are assured, hum well." 

The Dispatch had the following: "In the present 
instance the very enormity of the loss in prisoners attrib- 
uted to the enemy excites incredulity, although no man 
doubts that the reporter stated accurately the prevalent 
belief in Martinsburg at the time. We feel as well as- 
sured that General Lee, if he has met the enemy in a 
pitched battle, has inflicted a terrible blow upon them, as 
we do that we are living, breathing, sentient beings. 
Whether the details be precisely such as the telegraph 
gives us is another matter. If General Lee has, after a 
hard-fought battle, taken forty thousand prisoners, he has 
gained one of the most complete victories on record. He 
has utterly destroyed the only obstacle that stood between 
him and Baltimore, and we can see no reason why he should 
not be in that city to-morrow night. The force to defend 
it consists entirely of militia, many of them but ill-affected ; 
and they have within the city a deadly enemy, as numerous 
as themselves, panting for revenge, and ready to rise oq 
the first opportunity. In the panic which must follow 
such an astounding overthrow, nothing can be easier than 
to march in and take possession.' 

^^ Epitaph for General Meade, — The following epitaph, 
from the gravestone of an infant, should be placed upon 
the monument of Meade : 

' If so soon I'm done for, 
Wonder what I was begun for.' '' 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 153 

July 3d brought the terrific and victorious meeting of 
the grand armies, on whose valor hung largely, if not en- 
tirely, the fortunes of the Republic. Over the piled and 
furrowed field, running gore on every declivity, rose and 
rolled over the land the shouts of triumph. Mr. B. D. 
Beyea, of Bradford, Pa., who searched among the dead for 
the body of Captain Flagg, tells us about one of the heroes. 

" In the town of Gettysburg lives an old couple by 
the name of Burns. The old man Avas in the war of 1812, 
and is now nearly seventy years of age, yet the frosts of 
many winters has not chilled his patriotism or diminished 
his love for the old flag, under which he fought in his early 
days. When the rebels invaded the beautiful Cumberland 
valley, and were marching on Gettysburg, Old Burns 
concluded that it was time for every loyal man, young or 
old, to be up and doing all in his power to beat back the 
rebel foe, and if possible give them a quiet resting-place 
beneath the sod they were polluting with their unhallowed 
feet. The Old Hero took down an old State musket he 
had in his house and commenced running bullets. The 
old lady saw what he was about, and wanted to know 
what in the world he was going to do ? ' Ah ! ' said Burns, 
* I thought some of the boys might want the old gun, and 
I am getting it ready for them.' The rebels came on. 
Old Burns kept his eye on the lookout until he saw the 
Stars and Stripes coming in, carried by our brave boys. 
This was more than the old fellow could stand ; his patri 



154 LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

otism got the better of his age aud infirmity ; grabbing his 
musket he started out — the old ladj hallooed to him : 
* Burns, where are you going?' ' Oh ! ' says Bums, ' I 
am going out to see what is going on.' He immediately 
went to a Wisconsin regiment and asked them if they would 
take him in. They told him they would, and gave him 
three rousing cheers. The old musket was soon thrown 
aside and a first-rate rifle given him, and twenty-five rounds 
of cartridges. 

" The engagement between the two armies soon came 
on, and the old man fired eighteen of his twenty-five rounds, 
and says he kiUed three rebs to his certain knowledge. 
Our forces were compelled to fall back and leave our dead 
and wounded on the field, and Burns having received three 
wounds, was left also, not being able to get away. There 
he lay in citizen's dress, and if the rebs found him in that 
condition he knew death was his portion. So he concluded 
to try strategy as his only hope. Soon the rebels came up, 
and approached him, saying : ' Old man, what are you 
doing here ? ' 'I am lying here wounded, as you see,' he 
replied. ' Well, but what business have you to be here, 
and who wounded you, our troops or yours ? ' ' I don't know 
who wounded me, but I only know that I am wounded and 
in a bad fix.' ' Well, what were you doing here — what was 
your business ? ' 'If you will hear my story, I will tell 
you. My old woman's health is very poor, and I was over 
across the country to get a girl to help her, and coming 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 155 

back before I knew where I was, I bad got right intothia 
fix, and here I are.' ' Where do you live ? ' inquired the 
rebels. ' Over in town, in such a small house.' They 
then picked him up and carried him home and left him. 
But they soon returned, as if suspecting he had been lying 
to them, and made him answer a great many questions, 
but he stuck to his old story, and they failed to make any 
thing out (5f old Burns, and then left him for good. 

'" He says he shall always feel indebted to some of his 
copperhead neighbors for the last call, for he believes some 
one had informed them of him. Soon after they left a 
bullet came into his room and struck in the wall about six 
inches above where he lay on his sofa, but he don't know 
who fired it. His wounds proved only to be flesh wounds, 
and he is getting well, feels first-rate, and says he would 
like one more good chance to give them a rip. 

" Old Burns is the great hero of the battle ; his home 
is thronged with visitors. Governor Curtin and many other 
distinguished men have called on him, and have made him 
valuable presents. 

" Now mark the contrast between Burns, who had 
risked his life to save his country, and lay there on his 
couch wounded and bleeding from three different wounds, 
and his copperhead neighbors, who, no doubt, sent the rebels 
back to cut his throat ; and if they had been the one hun- 
dredth part as mean as their sympathizers, would have done 
it. lie has but little doubt that after the rebels left him ibr 



156 LIFE OF GENEEAL SHEKIDAN. 

good, those fiends in human shape, finding the rebels had 
some pity for suffering humanity and spared his life, tried 
to kill him themselves by firing at him in his own home." 

Although lost sight of in the awful suspense, followed 
by a delirium of joy, attending the events at Gettysburg, 
the Army of the Cumberland steadily advanced toward 
the object of its heroic ambition. 

General Sheridan, as announced by his chief, was 
conspicuous in the movements and the battles which re- 
moved the headquarters of the army to Winchester, 
Tennessee. Flushed with the successes at Liberty Gap 
and Winchester, General Sheridan's troops, in view of an 
impending struggle, engaged with enthusiasm in the 
more prosy business of getting the whole army forward 
toward the Tennessee River ; progress being retarded by 
rebuilding railroads and securing the necessary supplies. 
The remarkable region which was to be traversed before 
reaching Chattanooga, the scenery and battles near it, 
will make a description of this romantic and historical 
latitude interesting. The great leader of the legions of 
the Republic to that field, has given from his own obser- 
vation a graphic account of the country, and the march 
toward the river. You will learn that Sheridan was 
among the most active and successful commanders. Re- 
ferring to Chattanooga, the chieftain of the magnificent 
cavalcade writes : 

" It commands the southern entrance into East Tenn- 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEmAN. 157 

essee, the most valuable, if not the chief source of sup- 
plies of coal for the manufactories and machine shops 
of the Southern States, and is one of the great gateways 
through the mountains to the champaign counties of 
Georgia and Alabama. The Cumberland range is a 
lofty mass of rocks separating the waters which flow into 
the Cumberland from those which flow into the Tennes- 
see, and extending from beyond the ICentucky line in a 
southwesterly direction, nearly to Athens, Alabama. Its 
northwestern slopes are steep and rocky, and scalloped 
into coves, in which are the heads of numerous streams 
that water Middle Tennessee. Its top is undulating, or 
rough, covered with timber, soil comparatively barren, 
and in dry seasons scantily supplied with water. Its 
southeastern slope, above Chattanooga, for many miles, 
IS precipitous, rough, and difficult all the way up to 
Kingston. The valley between the foot of this slope and 
the river seldom exceeds four or five miles in width, and, 
with the exception of a narrow border along the banks, 
w undulating or hilly. 

" Between Stevenson and Chattanooga, on the south 
of the Tennessee, are two ranges of mountains, the Ten- 
nessee River separating them from the Cumberland. Its 
channel, a great chasm cut through the mountain masses, 
which in those places abut directly on the river. These 
two ranges are separated by a narrow valley tlirougli 
which runs Lookout Creek. 



158 LIFE OF GENEEAL SHERIDAN. 

" The Sand Mountain is next the Tennessee, and its 
northern extremity is called Raccoon Mountain. Its sides 
are precipitous, and its top barren oak ridges, nearly des- 
titute of water. There are but few, and those very dilQ- 
cult wagon-roads, by which to ascend and descend tlie 
slopes of this mountain. 

" East of Lookout valley is Lookout Mountain, a 
vast palisade of rocks rising two thousand four hundred 
feet above the level of the sea, in abrupt rocky clilfs, 
from a steep, w^ooded base. Its eastern sides are no less 
precipitous. Its top varies from one to six or seven miles 
in breadth, is heavily timbered, sparsely settled, and poorly 
watered. It terminates abruptly upon the Tennessee, two 
miles below Chattanooga, and the only practical wagon- 
roads across it are over the nose of the mountain, at this 
point, one at Johnson's Crook, twenty-six miles distant, 
and one at Winston's Gap, forty-two miles distant from 
Chattanooga. Between the eastern base of this range 
and the line of the Chattanooga and Atlanta or Georgia 
State Railroad are a series of narrow valleys, separated 
by smaller ranges of hills or low mountains, over which 
there are quite a number of practicable w^agon-roads run- 
ning eastward toward the railroad. The first of these 
ranges is Missionary Ridge, separating the waters oi 
Chickamauga from Chattanooga Creek." 

It was evident from this description of the topography, 
that to reach Chattanooga, or to penetrate the country 



LITE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 150 

south of it, on the raiboad, by crossing the Tennessee 
below Chattanooga, was a difficult task. It was necessary 
to cross the Cumberland Mountains with subsistence, 
ammunition, at least a limited supply of forage, and a 
bridge train ; to cross Sand or Raccoon Mountains into 
Lookout valley, then Lookout Mountain, and finally the 
lesser ranges, Missionary Ridge, if we went directly to 
Chattanooga ; or Missionary Ridge, Pigeon Mountain, 
and Taylor's Ridge, if we struck the railroad at Dalton, 
or south of it. The valley of the Tennessee River, 
though several miles in breadth between the bases of the 
mountains, below Bridgeport, is not a broad alluvial 
farming country, but full of barren oak ridges, sparsely 
settled, and but a small part of it under cultivation. 

Proudly, with the Stars and Stripes streaming over it, 
the Army of the Cumberland had come down the slopes 
of the mountains to the Tennessee, which runs in a very 
serpentine channel near Chattanooga, as the great natural 
gateway of armies — that splendid prize for which they 
were soon to contend in a deadly earnest. 

What an exciting spectacle ! Armed legions pouring 
at different points on the banks of a majestic river, brougl it 
to a halt by its beautiful barrier, for a brief period, till 
the pontoon boats are in place, bridges built, or the exact 
fording place found, and then marching over to meet the 
human tide — the fiery and sanguinary waves of rebel- 
lion. In this '^ Tullahoma campaign " there was a fine 



160 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 

opportunity for Sheridan to display his tireless energy. 
After the rebels were driven from that place and 
Winchester, and the general pursuit of the enemy was 
abandoned, his division, with Stanley's cavalry, were or- 
dered to continue the chase over the heights to Tennessee. 
So rapid was his march, that he reined up at the Bridge- 
port bridge before General Stanley arrived, and saved a 
part of the structure. He loved to tell as a good joke 
the story of his interview with the rebels there. He found 
some of the rear guard of Bragg's army sitting on the 
end of the bridge, who inquired if his advance troops 
were " a part of Stanley's cavalry ? " The infantry had 
outmarched the cavalry, and were mistaken for them. 

The first step was to repair the Nashville and Chatta- 
nooga Railroad, to bring forward to Tullahoma, McMinn- 
ville, Dechard, and Winchester, needful forage and sub- 
sistence, which it was impossible to transport from Mur- 
freesboro to those points over the horrible roads which 
were encountered on the advance to Tullahoma. The next 
was to extend the repairs of the main stem to Stevenson 
and Bridgeport and the Tracy City Branch, so that sup- 
plies could be placed in the depots at those points, from 
which to draw after crossing the mountains. 

A 3 soon as the main stem was finished to Stevenson, 
Sheridan's division was advanced, two brigades to Bridge- 
port and one to Stevenson, and commissary and quarter- 
master stores pushed forward to the latter place, with all 



LIFE OF GENERAL SnERIDAN. 161 

practicable speed. These supplies began to be accumu- 
lated at this point in sufficient quantities by the eighth of 
August, and corps commanders were that day directed to 
supply their troops, as soon as possible, with rations and 
forage sufficient for a general movement. 

The Tracy City Branch, built for bringing coal 
down the mountains, has such high grades and sharp 
curves as to require a peculiar engine. The only one on 
hand answering the purpose, having been broken on its 
way from Nashville, was not repaired until about the 
twelfth of August. It was deemed best, therefore, to de- 
lay the movement of the troops until that road was com- 
pletely available for transporting stores to Tracy City. 
The movement over the Cumberland Mountains benran on 

o 

the morning of the 16th August. 

The crossing of the river required that the best points 
should be chosen, and means provided for the crossing. 
The river was reconnoitred, the pontoons and trains or- 
dered forward as rapidly as possible, hidden from view 
in rear of Stevenson, and prepared for use. By the time 
they were ready the places of crossing had been selected, 
and dispositions made to begin the operation. It was 
very desirable to conceal to the last moment the points of 
crossing, but as the mountains on the south side of the 
the Tennessee rise in precipitous rocky bluffs to the 
height of eight hundred or one thousand feet, completely 

overlooking the whole valley and its coves, this was next 
11 



1G2 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEKIDAN. 

to impossible. Not having pontoons for two bridges 
across the river, General Sheridan began trestle-work for 
parts of one at Bridgeport, while General Reynolds' divi- 
sion seizing Shellmount, captured some boats, and from 
these and material picked up, prepared the means of 
crossing at that point, and General Brannan prepared 
rafts for crossing his troops at the mouth of Battle Creek. 

The laying of the pontoon-bridges at Caperton's 
Ferry was very handsomely done by the troops of Gen- 
eral Davis, under the direction of General McCook, who 
crossed his advance in pontoons at daylight, driving the 
enemy's cavalry from the opposite side. The bridge was 
ready for crossing by eleven o'clock a. m. the same day, 
but in plain view from the rebel signal-stations opposite 
Bridgeport. The bridge at Bridgeport was finished on 
the twenty-ninth of August, but an accident occurred 
which delayed its final completion till September second. 
The movement across the river was commenced on the 
twenty-ninth, and completed on the fourth of September, 
leaving the regular brigade in charge of the railroad and 
depot at Stevenson until relieved by Major Granger, who 
was directed, as soon as practicable, to relieve it and take 
charge of the rear. 

General Thomas's corps was to cross as follows : One 
division at Caperton's and one at Bridgeport, Reynolds at 
Shellmount in boats, and one division at Battle Creek on 
rafts. All were to use the bridge at Bridgeport for such 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 163 

portions of tlieir trains as they might find necessary, and 
to concentrate near Trenton, and send an advance to 
seize Frick or Cooper's and Stevens's Gaps, on the Look- 
out Mountain, the only practicable routes leading down 
the mountains into the valley, called McLemore's Cove, 
which lies at its eastern base, and stretches northwesterly 
toward Chattanooga. 

General McCook's corps was to cross two divisions 
at Caperton's Ferry, move to Valley Head and seize 
Winston's Gap, while Sheridan was to cross at Bridge- 
port, as soon as the bridge was laid, and join the rest of 
his corps, near Winston's, by way of Trenton. 

General Crittenden's corps Avas ordered down the Se- 
quatchie, leaving the two advanced brigades, under Hazen 
and Warren, with Minty's cavalry and Wilder's mounted 
infantry, to watch and annoy the enemy. It was to cross 
the river, following Thomas's corps, at all three crossings, 
and to take post on the Murphy's Hollow road, push an 
advance brigade to reconnoitre the enemy at the foot of 
Lookout, and take part at Wauhatchie, communicating 
from his main body with Th ^mas, on the right, up the 
Trenton Valley, and threatenin* Chattanooga by the pass 
over the point of Lookout. 

The cavalry forces which crossed at Caperton's and 
a ford near Island Creek, were to unite in Lookout valley, 
take post at Rawh'ngsville, and reconnoitre boldly toa\'ard 
Rome and Alpine. 



164 LITE OF GENEEAL SHERIDAN. 

The first barrier south of the Tennessee being crossed, 
the enemy was found firmly holding the Point of Look- 
out Mountain with infantry and artillery, while our force 
on the north side of the river reported the movement 
of the rebel forces from East Tennessee, and their con- 
centration at Chattanooga. To dislodge him from that 
place it was necessary to carry Lookout Mountain, or so 
to move as to compel him to quit his position, by endan- 
gering his line of communication. The latter plan was 
chosen. The cavalry was ordered to advance on our ex- 
treme right to Summerville in Broomtown valley, and 
General McCook was ordered to support the movement 
by a division of infantry thrown forward to the vicinity 
of Alpine, which was executed on the eighth and ninth 
of September. General Thomas was ordered to cross 
his corps by Frick's or Cooper's and Stevens's Gaps, and 
occupy the head of McLemore's Cove. General Critten- 
den was ordered to reconnoitre the front of Lookout 
Mountain, sending a brigade upon an almost imprac- 
ticable path, called the Nickajack Trace, to Summertown, 
a hamlet on the summit of the mountain, overlooking 
Chattanooga, and holding the main body of his corps, 
either to support these reconnoissances, to prevent a 
sortie of the enemy over the nose of Lookout, or to 
enter Chattanooga in case the enemy should evacuate it 
or make but feeble resistance. Simultaneously with this 
movement the cavalry was ordered to push, by way of 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEroAN. 165 

Alpine and Broomtown valley, and strike the enemy's 
railroad communication between Resaca Bridge and 
Dalton. 

"While General Sheridan was encamped at Bridgeport 
the following amusing incident occurred : " The bellig- 
erent in Sheridan's organization is often aroused with- 
out the stimulus of the smell of gunpowder. In 1863, 
while Sheridan was encamped at Bridgeport, Alabama, 
he invited General George H. Thomas, then encamped 
at Deckerd, Tennessee, to examine the works erected at 
Bridgeport and the preparations going on for rebuilding 
the bridge. At one of the way-stations the train halted 
for an unusually long time, and Sheridan, on asking the 
conductor, a great, burly six-footer, the reason, met with 
a somewhat gruff reply. Sheridan contented himself 
with reproving his manner, and ordered him to proceed 
with the train. The conductor did not reply, and failed 
to obey. After waiting for a time Sheridan sent for the 
conductor, and demanded to know why he had not obey- 
ed. The fellow answered, in a gruff manner, that he re- 
ceived his orders from the military superintendent only. 
Without giving him time to finish the insulting reply, 
Sheridan struck him two or three rapid blows, kicked 
him from the cars and into the hands of a guard, and 
then ordered the train forward, acting as conductor on 
the down and return trip. After starting the train he 
returned to his seat near General Thomas, and, without 



166 LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

referring to tlie subject, resumed his conversation with 
that imperturbable dignitary." 

Geueral Sheridan's division passed safely over the 
river on their own bridge, August 31st, and swept on tow- 
ard Trenton, in Dade County, Georgia, and on the 5th 
of September encamped a few miles from that village. 
The following day the march was resumed. The rebels 
finding that the cavahy were approaching, Sheridan 
having reached Steam's Mills, on their flank, evacuated 
Chattanooga. General Bragg had been reenforced by 
paroled prisoners from Vicksburg which had surrendered 
July 4th, and further additions were expected from At- 
lanta. In a cavalry reconnoissance, Sheridan found that 
he had only retired a short distance to Lafayette, evident^ 
ly determined to test there the strength of his antagonist, 
and defend his threatened and guarded Thermopylae. 
The Union army, with great difficulty, were concen- 
trated on the broken country, and September 19th the 
shock of the anticipated collision came. It was late in 
the morning, when, at Owen's Ford, on Chickamauga 
River, the lion-hearted Thomas encountered a rebel bri- 
gade, drove it back, and in turn was driven from the 
banks of the stream. The enemy now swarmed across 
the ford, and fairly overwhelmed our divisions as they 
came up, here violently hurling one back, and there al- 
most surrounding another. 

Till the sun went down the battle raged. " What 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 167 

advantage generally had been gained, however, was with 
tlie rebels. They had successfully overcome the obstacle 
of the river in their front on Sunday morning, forcing the 
Federal line from it at every point, until it lay in a 
country almost destitute of water. Not enough could be 
had for the men's coffee, and what w^as obtained was 
from springs several miles distant. During the day 
Negley's division had been withdrawn from Owen's Ford, 
and in the afternoon Lytle's brigade, which had reocupied 
Gordon's Mills after Wood was withdrawn, was recalled, 
so that the whole army was in the line. There was, in- 
deed, little need of detachments now, for there was left 
nothing south of Rossville to hold, except the plain coun- 
try, which the enemy shared. The force and position of 
both armies had, it was safe to assume, been well de- 
veloped, and with this knowledge the night was before the 
hostile commanders for tactical dispositions, if it was de- 
cided to fight on the morrow. On the Federal side there 
was less reason for retreat than in the morning ; all un- 
certainty as to the rebel position had vanished, and it 
only remained to look to his movements during the night. 
Gordon's Mills having been abandoned, there was but one 
great strategic point to claim attention — the pass at Ross- 
ville, on tlie Chattanooga road. With this in possession 
of the enemy, a retreat other than disastrous could hardly 
be hoped for. During the night of the 19th the Federal 
force was thus disposed, commencing at the left and pro- 



168 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAIT. 

ceeding to the right. Baird's division of Thomas's corps 
was in line four hundred yards east of the Chattanooga 
road, the left of course refused ; next Johnson's division 
of McCook's corps, then Palmer's, of Crittenden's corps, 
then Reynolds, of Thomas's corps. As this part of the 
line subsequently became isolated, it is particularly de- 
scribed. The first line occupied a very slight crest in a 
forest, which prevented a view in front of more than one 
hundred and fifty or two hundred yards. Along this Hne 
a slight breastwork of rails, logs, etc., commenced first in 
Hazen's brigade, had been carried shortly after daylight. 
It proved invaluable during the day. In rear of John- 
son's, Palmer's, and part of the lines of the other divi- 
sions, was an open field, extending as far as the road, to 
which the line was parallel at a distance of about four 
hundred yards. The northern part of the open ground 
was a cornfield, much of the standing stalk having been 
consumed during the night ; the southern part was a fal- 
low field. Beyond the road looking to the rear were 
dense woods. Next on the right of Reynolds was Bran- 
nan's division of Thomas's corps, whicji had been brought 
up from the extreme left on Saturday evening, at the 
time the enemy penetrated the centre ; then Negley's divi- 
sion, Thomas's corps, its right making a crotchet to the 
rear ; and the line across the Chattanooga road toward 
Missionary Ridge was completed by Sheridan's and 
Davis's divisions of McCook's corps. Wood's and Van 



LIFE OF GENEEAL SHEEmAN. 169 

Cleve's divisions of Crittenden's corps, were in reserve at 
a proper distance in rear of tlie angle in the line. It will 
be seen that the divisions of the three corps were niuch 
scattered, no corps being complete on the line. It was 
daylight before the divisions had all taken position, and 
when this was accomplished, there was begun the closing 
of the line to the left, the divisions moving successively, 
and apparently in obedience to orders not from a general 
on the ground, so tardily was it done. 

"Four or five batteries of reserve artillery, which 
w^ere left in position when the reserve divisional were 
ordered up to the line, being directly in the enemy's 
course as he came through the interval above described, 
fared as might be expected. Almost without warning, a 
rebel line marched quietly upon the astonished gunners 
without receiving a shot, and seventeen pieces were cap- 
tured. The rebels turned their pieces toward Wood, and 
their shells flying high, burst in rear of the extreme left, 
killing the wounded in a hospital in rear of Palmer's divi- 
sion, and firing the building. A few words will end the 
story of the right. ^ 

" Swarming through the woods in confused masses, 
the men of Sheridan's, Davis's, and Van Cleve's divisions, 
with some from Brannan's, passed backward. Head- 
quarters, which had been in rear of the position of the 
reserve, was caught up by the multitude and carried back. 
To those in the crowd the disaster appeared irremediable ; 



170 LIFE OF GENEEAL SHEEIDAN. 

appareutlj the whole army was in confused flight. E\en 
the Commanding General, after a vain effort to arrest the 
foremost of the crowd as they came up to his position, 
and the commanders of the Twentieth and Twenty-first 
corps, were carried away by the living tide, and cut off 
from the remainder of the army. There was no panic 
among the retreating mass ; but they were not stopped, 
though unpursued, until they reached Rossville. Sheri- 
dan, indeed, rallied his men and essayed a stand, but 
could not hold his ground ; with much dexterity, ho'wever, 
he avoided the enemy and brought his division, almost 
complete, to Rossville. Negley, who, it has been men- 
tioned was withdrawn from the right and ordered to the 
left, by some unexplained fatality was in the retreating 
mass with two brigades, his other brigade having been 
formed on the left of Baird's division." 

With great sacrifice of life, through the dauntless 
heroism of such men as Thomas, McCook, and Sheridan, 
Chattanooga was saved to the Union cause. It is start- 
ling to think how near we came to a complete and dis- 
astroip defeat. Major-General McCook, General Sheri- 
dan's corps commander, gives prominence to his heroic 
part in the terrible fight. 

The following order, and the testimony added, will 
indicate the conspicuous valor which in nothing has been 
more successful than reforming, as if by magic, broken 
columns, and hurling them back upon the foe, some- 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEEDAN. ITl 

times snatching victory from the very jaws of de- 
struction : 



" Headquarters Department of Cumberland, 
In the Field, Sept. 20—10:30 a.m. 



1 

^^ Major-General McCook^ Commanding Twentieth Army Corps: 

" The General Commanding directs you to send two 
brigades of General Sheridan's division at once, and with 
all possible despatch, to support General Thomas, and 
send the Third brigade as soon as the lines can be drawn 
sufRciently. March them as rapidly as you can without 
exhausting the men. Report in person to these head- 
quarters as soon as your orders are given in regard to 
Sheridan's movement. 

" Have you any news from Colonel Post? 

"J. A. Garfield, 
" Brigadier-General and Chief of Staff." 

Adds General McCook : 

" This order was executed at once. Two brigades of 
Sheridan's division — Lytle's and Walworth's — were taken 
from the extreme right and moved, at the double-quick, 
io the support of General Thomas. Simultaneously with 
this movement, and much to my surprise, Wood's division 
left the position it had in line of battle, on Davis' left, 
marching by the left flank, leaving a wide gap in the line. 
An attempt was made by General Davis to fill up the 
space thus vacated. Buell's brigade of Wood's divisiou 



172 LIFE OF GENEEAL SHEEIDAN. 

had scarcely marched more than its length when a most 
furious and impetuous assault was made by the enemy, iu 
overwhelming numbers, on this portion of the line, the 
enemy's line of battle extending from a point beyond 
Brannan*s right to a point far to the right of the Widow 
Glenn's house, and in front of the strong position just 
abandoned by General Sheridan's two brigades. To re- 
sist this attack I had just two brigades of Davis's division, 
numbering about one thousand two hundred men, and 
Colonel Laibold's brigade of Sheridan's division as a 
support. 

" Finding the enemy pouring through the interval be- 
tween Davis and Brannan, Lytle's and "Walworth's bri- 
gades are deflected from their line of march, and ordered 
to assist in resisting the enemy. Colonels Wilder and 
Harrison closed in with their commands on Sheridan's 
right as speedily as possible, and did good service. Gen- 
eral Davis's command being overwhelmed by numbers, 
was compelled to abandon its position in order to save 
itself from complete annihilation or capture. Laibold's 
troops coming up to Davis's support, met with a similar 
fate. The other two brigades of Sheridan's division were 
illy prepared to meet such an attack. They struggled 
nobly, and for a time checked the enemy in their imme 
diate front. But the position being tiu*ned far to the left, 
they were compelled to withdraw from the unequal con- 
test. 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEmAN. 173 

" It was thus that these five brigades of the Twentieth 
army corps were cut off and separated from the remainder 
of the army. No troops fought with more heroism, or 
suffered greater losses than these small five brigades ; 
their loss being over forty per cent, of the number en- 
gaged in killed and wounded. In regard to the numbers 
of the enemy that attacked on the right, I can make no 
estimate. General Sheridan captured prisoners from five 
different rebel divisions. The Fifty-first Illinois of Wal- 
worth's brigade, captured the colors of the Twenty-fourth 
Alabama. 

" The troops of Generals Sheridan and Davis were 
rallied a short distance in the rear of the line of battle, 
and marched toward Kossville to endeavor to form a 
junction with the troops of General Thomas. They be- 
haved with great courage, never yielding, except to over- 
whelming numbers, when it would have been suicidal to 
have contested the ground longer. 

'^ To the families of the heroic dead the sympathies 
of the nation are due. Such names as Heg, Lytle, and 
Baldwin, brigade commanders, and Colonels Alexander, 
Gilmer, and McCreary, and many other distinguished 
field and line officers who fell upon this memorable battle- 
field, will make a radiant space in our history as a nation. 
These expressions should also extend to the many non- 
commissioned officers and privates who gave their Uvea 
in defence of their country and flag. 



174: LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 

" To Major-General Sheridan, commanding Third 
division, Brigadier-General Johnson, commanding Sec- 
ond division, and Brigadier-General Davis, commanding 
Fii-st division of my corps, my thanks are due for their 
earnest cooperation and devotion to duty. Major-Gen- 
eral Sheridan is commended to his country^ and Brig- 
adier-Generals Johnson and Davis are commended to 
theii' country and recommended to my superiors for pro- 
motion." 

It is evident that Sheridan's disaster was not the result 
of any failure of his own, but was a part of the misfor- 
tune which befell the division throuojh the manaorement 
of superior officers. In the defiles and forests of Chick- 
amauga, as in the " dark cedars at Stone River, by the 
most strenuous exertions and at great personal risk," 
he partially saved the sinking fortunes of the day. The 
awful pause of burial, removal of the wounded, and re- 
pairing the breeches in the battle-front, followed. We 
cannot here narrate the uncomplaining suffering of 
the mangled boys, and the death-beds of triumphant 
Christian trust, near the very spot where, almost half a 
century before, devoted missionaries planted the only 
banner which will never go down in defeat before its 
foes — and seen by the spirit's vision in the darkest hour — 
the banner of the Cross ! 

Missionary Ridge is a name historic, not alone on ac- 
count of the christianizing of the noble Cherokees, but the 



LITE OF GENERAL SHEKmAN. 1 1 O 

victories of freedom and faith in the great life struggle of 
the Repubh'c. 

You will have a fitting close to the story of Chicka- 
mauga in the anonymous poem on the " Dove of the 
Regiment" : 

"And the dove came in to him in the evening, and lo ! in her mouth WM 
an olive leaf I " — Bible. 

[It will be remembered that, during the battle of Chickamauga, 
stragglers from our army spread extravagant reports of disaster and 
defeat, and that the enemy, supposing the destruction of our army 
complete, exultingly announced that the road was clear to Nashville. 
After the retreat, while placing Chattanooga in a state of defence, 
General Rosecrans ordered groves levelled and houses burned, when 
so situated as to afford shelter to the enemy, or interfere with the 
range of the artillery. A dove escaped from a burning building, and 
took shelter in the tent of an officer of the Forty-first Ohio regiment. 
It remained with its protector during the siege, which terminated in 
the rout of Bragg's army at Lookout Mountain and Mission Ridge. 
When the regiment marched with Granger's corps to the relief of the 
beleaguered army at Knoxville, it accompanied it, and when the 
Forty-first reenlisted, this "dove of the regiment" came with it to 
Cleveland.] 

The Sabbath-day — toward Welden bridge slow stoops the autumn sun ; 

As when by prophet's mandate stayed, he paused on Gideon. 

Above the crest of Mission Ridge the shifting cloud we see 

Is not the fleeting morning mist that shrouds the Tennessee. 

A hundred thousand freemen pale struggle beneath its shade ; 

While, from old Lookout's rugged front, echoes the cannonade. 

** Now glory the stars and bars, what may not valor do ? 

Our foe, m Georgia's dread defiles, has met his Waterloo ! 

Here, on the soil long consecrate to Indian hardihood, 

We have met the rude invader, and spilled his richest blood. 



176 LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

Wliile nations celebrate their birth, or venerate their slain, 

Shall live the heights of Mission Ridge and Chickanjauga's plain. 

Now let the hated Yankee seek again his native sod, 

And feel, in this last fearful stroke, the hand of Israel's God ; 

Let him tame his flowing rivers, let him quell the restless lake, 

Whose billows on his northland in sullen grandeur break, 

But never let him think to bind, and fetter at his will, 

The Southern mind, while Southern hands can wield the sabre still." 

So spake a haughty Southern lord, with stern and flashing eye, 

Gazing upon a recent throng that slowly straggled by. 

Cease, babbling fool, your soul to soothe with this delusive strain ; 

Though stragglers flee the field of death, the soldiers yet remain. 

When storms assail the rugged oak, its giant form may rock. 

But withered leaves and worthless boughs alone yield to the shock. 

The fight is done, and from the field, the rebels on their track, 

A weary host, our scattered bands come marching slowly back. 

" Now fire the dwellings, fell the groves, these sylvan bowers lay low, 

That o'er the plain our guns may speak a welcome to the foe ! 

Though driven from the bloody field we almost won, and lost, 

Back from this mountain citadel we'll hurl the rebel host ; 

As, after Cannae's fatal day, the Roman armies bore 

Their standards from Tiber's banks to Afric's hated shore ; 

As when the northern bear waned weak, in Borodino's fight, 

Napoleon's host recoiled before the vengeful Muscovite ; 

So yet from Chattanooga's walls we'll spring, the foe to meet — 

The Army of the Cumberland shall never know defeat ! " 

As from doomed Sodom's sin-cursed town to Zoar Lot trembling 

crossed, 
So from the tumult flees a dove, and cowers amid our host ; 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 177 

A message to that war-worn band it bears upon its wing, 

Though not the olive-leaf of Peace, Hope's grateful offering. 

"Be firm," its language seems to be, "though right may yield to 

wrong, 
Hope's brightest omens cheer the souls that suffer and are strong." 
Responsive to the Tennessee its songs no longer break, 
But mingled with the hoarser roar of Erie's sleeplesa Uke. 

12 




CHAPTER IX. 



Change of Commanders — General Sheridan's Command Enlarged — Gener&l 
Bragg Reenforced and Defiant — General Grant gets ready for him — The 
Battle — Sheridan. 



,ENERAL GRANT, who had been hurt by a fall 
from a strange and unmanageable horse while 
attending a review at New Orleans, was laid 
aside when this battle was fought ; General 
Sherman leaving his department October 11th, 
to join and help Rosecrans. On the 17th Generals Grant 
and Halleck met at Indianapolis, the latter bearing in his 
hand an order putting the hero of Vicksburg in command 
of the " Departments of the Ohio, of the Cumberland, and 
of the Tennessee, constituting the military division of the 
Mississippi." Thomas had succeeded Rosecrans. The 
two corps of Crittenden and McCook were consolidated 
into one, commanded by General Granger, under whom 
Sheridan's force was greatly increased in strength. 

General Grant, immediately upon reaching Chatta- 
nooga, where the forces under Generals Bragg, Long 



LIFE OF GENEEAL SHEKmAN. 179 

Street, and Hill, with Johnston's thirty thousand troops 
ready to cooperate, thought the Union army was firmly 
held, began his preparations for attack. Every thing was 
in a bad condition. The enemy, after the late battle, had 
again seized the defences of Lookout, overlooking the 
Bridgeport road, cutting off supplies. Men, horses, and 
mules were suffering. 

General Hooker was sent, with General Smith, to 
open the way through Lookout valley, and meet an expe- 
dition to start at midnight, near Bridgeport, October 
26th, for the same object. 

The rebel chief supposed it a great stroke of strategy 
to let Longstreet swing around the rear of the Union 
army east of Chattanooga, and beginning with Knoxville, 
try to reconquer East Tennessee. But it was just what 
the sagacious Grant desired. He immediately deter- 
mined to spring upon his foes, weakened by this loss of 
force. 

Monday, November 23d, was the day appointed for 
battle. Sunday you could have seen the' " boys," when 
not listening to the chaplain's serious words, or engaged 
themselves in prayer and praise, busy *with pen and 
paper writing the messages of affection, with many of 
them the last sweet labor of love for the absent. These 
scenes vanished with the approach of Monday's sun. 

General Thomas was to move against the strong po- 
sition at Orchard Knob and the fi>rts fronting Chattanoo- 



180 LIFE OF GENEEAL SHEEIDAl^. 

ga ; General Sherman, across the Tennessee, to assaU 
the termination of Mission Ridge and Tunnel Hill. Gen- 
aral Granger's work, when the other assaults had drawn 
away a part of the troops from Fort Bragg, the strongest 
fortress of Missionary Ridge, to Fort Buckner, would be 
against the formidable and apparently impregnable forti- 
fications of the former. 

Soon after tliree o'clock in the afternoon six guns 
were fired, the signal of the onset ; and look ! away over 
the pi'ain sweeps the veteran corps. It is a storm-swept 
field ; leaden and iron hail seem to rake away every inch 
of soil, but there is no wavering. The nearest line of 
rifle-pits is cleared, and onward over prostrate rebels the 
valiant battalions rush for the summit. Here they en- 
counter new missiles ; rocks and stones are hurled upon 
their heads from every cliff and granite battlement. 

Stung with the breaking of his division at Cliicka- 
mauga, Sheridan shouts : " Show the Fourth corps 
that the men of the Old Twentieth are still alive, and 
can fight ! Remember Chickamauga ! " And they did 
fight. Eloquently wrote a beholder of that tremendous 
struggle in which the dashing Sheridan was conspicuous : 

" Did ever battle have so vast a cloud of witnesses ? 
The hive-shaped hills have swarmed. Clustered like 
bees, blackening the house-tops, lining the fortifications, 
over yonder across the theatre, in the seats with the Cati- 
lines, everywhere, are a hundred thousand beholders. 



Il 



LITE OF GENEEAL SHERIDAN. 181 

Their souls are in their eyes. Not a murmur can you 
hear. It is the most solemn congregation that ever stood 
up in the presence of the God of battles. I think of 
Bunker Hill, as I stand here ; of the thousands who wit* 
nessed the immortal struggle ; and fancy there is a paral- 
lel. 1 think, too, tliat the chair of every man of them 
will stand vacant against the wall to-morrow, and that 
around the fireside they must give thanks .without him, 
if they can. 

" At half-past three a group of generals, whose names 
will need no ' Old Mortality' to chisel them anew, stood 
upon Orchard Knob. The hero of Vicksburg was there, 
calm, clear, persistent, far-seeing. Thomas, the sterling 
and sturdy ; Meigs, Hunter, Granger, Reynolds. Clus- 
ters of humbler mortals were there too, but it was any 
thing but a turbulent crowd ; the voice naturally fell into 
a subdued tone, and even young faces took on the gravity 
of later years. Generals Grant, Thomas, and Granger 
conferred, an order was given, and in an instant the Knob 
was cleared like a ship's deck for action. At twenty 
minutes of four Granger stood upon the parapet; the 
bugle swung idle at the bugler's side, the warbling fife 
and the grumbling drum unheard : — there was to be 
louder talk — six guns at intervals of two seconds, the 
signal to advance. Strong and steady his voice rang out ; 
' Number one, fire ! Number two, fire ! Number three, 
fire ! ' it seemed to me the tolling of the clock of destiny ; 



182 LIFE OF GENEEAL SHERIDAN. 

and when at ' Number six, fire ! ' the roar throbbed 
out with the flash, you should have seen the dead line 
that had been lying behind the works all day, all night 
all day again, come to resurrection in the twinkling of an 
eye — leap like a blade from its scabbard and sweep with 
a two-mile stroke toward the ridge. From divisions to 
brigades, from brigades to regiments, the order ran. A 
minute, and the skirmishers deploy ; a minute, and the 
first great drops begin to patter along the line ; a minute, 
and the musketry is in full play like the crackling whips 
of a hemlock fire ; men go down here and there, before 
your eyes ; the wind lifts the smoke and drifts it away 
over the top of the ridge ; every thing is too distinct ; it is 
fairly palpable ; you can touch it with your hand. The 
divisions of Wood and Sheridan are wading breast deep 
in the valley of death. 

'" I never can tell you w^hat it was like. They pushed 
out, leaving nothing behind them. There was no reser- 
vation in that battle. On moves the line of skirmishers, 
like a heavy frown, and after it, at quick time, the splen- 
did columns. At right of us, and left of us, and front of 
us, you can see the bayonets glitter in the sun. 

" And all the while our lines were moving on ; they 
had burned through the woods and swept over the rough 
and rolling ground like a prairie-fire. Never halting, 
never faltering, they charged up to the first rifle-pits with 
a cheer, forked out the rebels with their bayonets, and 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERmAN. 183 

lay there panting for breath. If the thunder of guns had 
been terrible, it was now growing sublime ; it was like 
tlie footfall of God on the ledges of cloud. Our forts and 
batteries still thrust out their mighty arms across the vah 
ley ; the rebel guns that lined the arc of the crest fall in 
our front, opened like the fan of Lucifer, and converged 
their fire down upon Baird and Wood and Sheridan. It 
was rifles and musketry ; it was grape and canister ; it 
was shell and shrapnel. Mission Ridge was volcanic ; 
a thousand torrents of red poured over its brink and 
rushed together to its base. And our men were there, 
halting for breath ! Echoes that never waked before, 
roared out from height to height, and called from the far 
ranges of Waldron's Ridge to Lookout. As for Mission 
Ridge, it had jarred to such music before ; it was the 
'sounding-board' of Chickamauga : it was behind us 
then ; it frowns and flashes in our faces to-day ; the old 
Army of the Cumberland was there ; it breasted the 
storm till the storm was spent, and left the ground it 
held ; the old Army of the Cumberland is here ! It shall 
roll up the Ridge like a surge to its summit, and sweep 
triumphant down the other side. Believe me, that mem- 
ory and hope may have made the heart of many a blue- 
coat beat like a drum. 

" And all the while rebel prisoners have been streaming 
out from the rear ot our lines like the tails of a cloud of 
kites. Captured and disarmed, they needed nobody to 



184 LIFE OF GENERAL SnEKIDAN. 

set them going. The fire of their own comrades was like 
spurs in a horse's flanks, and amid the tempest of their 
own brewing they ran for dear life, until they dropped 
like quails into the Federal rifle-pits and were safe. But 
our gallant legions are out in the storm ; they have car- 
ried the works at the base of the ridge ; they have fallen 
like leaves in winter weather. Blow, dumb bugles ! 

" Sound the recall ! ' Take the rifle-pit,' was the or- 
der ; and it is as empty of rebels as the tomb of the 
prophets. Shall they turn their backs to the blast? Shall 
they sit down under the eaves of that dripping-iron ? Or 
shall they climb to the cloud of death above them, and 
pluck out its lightnings as they would straws from a sheaf 
of wheat? But the order was not given. And now the 
arc of fire on the crest grows fiercer and longer. The 
reeonnoissance of Monday had failed to develop the heavy 
metal of the enemy. The dull fringe of the hill kindles 
with the flash of great guns. 

*' At this moment General Granger's aides are dashing 
out with an order ; they radiate over the field, to left, 
right, and front : ' Take the Ridge if you can ' — ' Take 
the Ridge if you can ' — and so it went along the line. 
But the advance had already set forth without it. Stout- 
hearted Wood, the iron-gray veteran, is rallying on his 
men ; stormy Turchin is delivering b^ave words in bad 
English ; Sheridan — ' little Phil *— ^ypu may easily look 
down upon him without climbing a tree, and see one Qf the 



LIFE OF GENEEAL SHERmAN. 185 

most gallant leaders of the age if you do — is riding to and 
fro along the first line of rifle-pits, as calmly as a chess- 
player. An aide rides up with the order. ' Avery, that 
flask/ said the General. Quietly filling the pewter cup, 
Sheridan looks up at the battery that frowns above him, 
by Bragg's headquarters, shakes his cap amid tliat storm 
of every thing that kills, when you could hardly hold 
your hand without catching a bullet in it, and with a 
' How are you? ' tosses off the cup. The blue battle-flag 
of the rebels fluttered a response to the cool salute, and 
the next instant the battery let fly its six guns, showering 
Sheridan with earth. Alluding to that compliment with 
any thing but a blank cartridge, the General said to me 

in his quiet way, ' I thought it ungenerous ! ' The 

recording angel will drop a tear upon the word for the 
part he played that day. Wheeling toward the men, he 
cheered them to the charge, and made at the hill like a 
bold-riding hunter ; they were out of the rifle-pits and 
into the tempest and struggling up the steep, before you 
could get breath to tell it, and so they were throughout 
the inspired line. 

" And now you have before you one of the most start- 
ling episodes of the war ; I cannot render it in words ; 
dictionaries are beggarly things. But I may tell you they 
did not storm that mountain as you would think. They 
dash out a little way, and then slacken ; they creep up, 
hand over hand, loading and firing, and wavering and 



186 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEKIDAN. 

halting, from the fu'st line of works to the second ; they 
burst into a charge with a cheer, and go over it. Sheets 
of flame baptize them ; plunging shot tear away comrades- 
' on left and right ; it is no longer shoulder to shoulder ; it 
is God for us all ! Under tree-trunks, among rocks, ' 

stumbling over the dead, struggling with the living, facing 

i 

the steady fire of eight thousand infantry poured down 
upon their heads as if it were the old historic curse from 
heaven, they wrestle with the Ridge. Ten, fifteen, twenty 
minutes go by like a reluctant century. The batteries 
roll like a drum : between the second and last lines of 
rebel works is the torrid zone of the battle ; the hill sways 
up like a wall before them at an angle of forty-five de- 
grees, but our brave mountaineers are clambering steadily 
on — up — upward still ! You may think it strange, but I 
would not have recalled them if I could. They would 
have lifted you, as they did me, in full view of the heroic 
grandeur ; they seemed to be spurning the dull earth 
under their feet, and going up to do Homeric battle with 
the greater gods. 

"And what do those men follow? If you look you 
shall see that the thirteen thousand are not a rushing herd 
jf human creatures ; that along the Gothic roof of the 
Ridge a row of inverted V*s is slowly moving up almost 
in line, a mighty lettering on the hill's broad side. At 
the angles of those Vs is something that glitters like a 
wing. Your heart gives a great bound when you think 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 187 

wliat it is — the regimental flag — and glancing along the 
front count fifteen of those colors that were borne at Pea 
Ridge, waved at Sliiloh, glorified at Stone River, riddled 
at Chickamauga. Nobler than Ceesar's rent mantle are 
they all ! And up move the banners, now fluttering like 
a wounded bird, now faltering, now sinking out of sight. 
Three times the flag of one regiment goes down. And 
you know why. Three dead color-sergeants lie just 
there, but the flag is immortal — thank God ! — and up it 
comes again, and the V's move on. At the left of Wood, 
tl.voo regiments of Baird — Turchin, the Russian thunder- 
^it, is there — hurl themselves against a bold point strong 
with rebel works, for a long quarter of an hour three 
flags are perched and motionless on a plateau under the 
frown of the hill. Will they linger forever? I give a 
look at the sun behind me ; it is not more than a hand's 
breadth from the edge of the mountain ; its level rays 
bridge the valley from Chattanooga to the Ridge with 
beams of gold ; it shines iu the rebel faces ; it brings out 
the Federal blue ; it touches up the flags. Oh, for the 
voice that could bid that sun stand still ! I turn to the 
battle again : those three flags have taken flight ! They 
are upward bound. 

" The race of the flags is growing every moment more 
terrible. There at the right, a strange thing catches the 
eye ; one of the inverted V's is turning right side up. 
The men sti'uorglinoj along the converging lines to over- 



188 LIFE OF GENEEAL SHERID.IN. 

take the flag liave distanced it, and there the colors are, 
sinking down in the centre between the rising flanks. 
The line wavers like a great billow and up comes the 
banner again, as if heaved on a surge's shoulder. The 
iron sledges beat on. Hearts, loyal and brave, are on the 
anvil, all the way from base to summit of Mission Eidge, 
but those dreadful hammers never intermit. Swarms of 
buUets sweep the hill ; you can count twenty-eight balls 
in one little tree. Things are growing desperate up aloft ; 
the rebels tumble rocks upon the rising line ; they light 
the fuses and roll shells down the steep ; they load the 
guns with handfuls of cartridges in their haste ; and as if 
there were powder in the word, they shout ' Chicka- 
mauga ! ' down upon the mountaineers. But it would 
not all do, and just as the sun, weary of the scene, was 
sinking out of sight, with magnificent bursts all along the 
line, exactly as you have seen the crested seas leap up at 
the breakwater, the advance surged over the crest, and in 
a minute those flags fluttered along the fringe where fifty 
rebel guns were kennelled. God bless the flag ! God save 
the Union ! 

" What colors were first upon the mountain battle- 
ment I dare not try to say ; bright honor itself may be 
proud to bear — ^nay, proud to follow the hindmost. Foot 
by foot they had fought up the steep, slippery with much 
blood ; let them go to glory together. A minute and they 
«v^ere all there, fluttering along the Eidge from left to right. 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 189 

The rebel hordes rolled off to the north, rolled oiF to the 
east, like the clouds of a worn-out storm. Bragg, ten 
minutes before, was putting men back in the rifle-pits. 
His gallant gray was straining a nerve for him now, and 
the man rode on horseback into Dixie's bosom, who, ar- 
rayed in some prophet's discarded mantle, foretold on 
Monday that the Yankees would leave Chattanooga in 
five days. They left in three, and by way of Mission 
Ridge, btraight over the mountains as their forefathers 
went ! As Sheridan rode up to the guns, the heels of 
Breckinridge's horse glittered in the last rays of sunshine. 
That crest was hardly ' well off with the old love before 
it was on with the new.' 

"But the scene on the narrow plateau can never be 
painted. As the blue coats surged over its edge, cheer 
on cheer rang like bells through the valley of the Chicka- 
mauga. Men flung themselves exhausted upon the 
ground. They laughed and wept, shook hands, em- 
braced ; turned round and did all four over again. It 
was as wild as a carnival. Granger was received with 
a shout. ' Soldiers,' he said, ' you ought to be court- 
martialed every man of you. I ordered you to take the 
rifle-pits and you scaled the mountain ! ' but it was not 
Mars' horrid front exactly with which he said it, for his 
cheeks were wet with tears as honest as the blood that 
reddened all the rout. Wood uttered words that ran» 
like ' Napoleon's,' and Sheridan, the rowels at his horse's 



190 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEKIDAN. 

flanks, was ready for a dash down the Ridge with a 
' view halloo,' for a fox hunt. 

" But you must not think this was all there was of the 
scene on the crest, for fight and frolic was strangely min- 
gled. Not a rebel had dreamed a man of us all would live 
to reach the summit, and when a little wave of the Fed- 
eral cheer rolled up and broke over the crest, they defiantly 

cried ' Hurrah and be d d ! ' the next minute a Union 

regiment followed the voice, the rebels delivered their fire, 
and tumbled down in the rifle-pits, their faces distorted 
with fear. No sooner had the soldiers scrambled to the 
Kidge and straightened themselves, than up muskets and 
away they blazed. One of them, fairly beside himself 
between laughing and crying, seemed puzzled at which end 
of his piece he should load, and so abandoning the gun and 
the problem together, he made a catapult of himself and 
fell to hurling stones after the enemy. And he said, as he 
threw — well, you know our ' army swore terribly in 
Flanders.' Bayonets glittered and muskets rattled. 
General Sheridan's horse was killed under him ; Richard 
was not in his role, and so he leaped upon a rebel gun for 
want of another. Rebel artillerists are driven from their 
batteries at the edge of the sword and the point of the 
bayonet ; two rebel guns are swung around upon their old 
masters. But there is nobody to load them. Light and 
heavy artillery do not belong to the winged kingdom. 
Two infantry men claiming to be old artillerists, volunteer. 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 191 

Granger turns captain of the guns, and — right about wheel I 
— in a moment they are growling after the flying enemy. 
I say ' flying,' but that is figurative. The many run like 
Spanish merinos, but the few fight like gray wolves at 
bay ; they load and fire as they retreat ; they are fairly 
scorched out of position. 

" A sharpshooter, fancying Granger to be worth the pow- 
der, coolly tries his hand at him. The General hears tho 
zip of a ball at one ear, but doesn't mind it. In a minute 
away it sings at the other. He takes the hint, sweeps 
with his glass the direction whence the couple came, and 
brings up the marksman, just drawing a bead upon him 
again. At that instant a Federal argument persuades the 
cool hunter and down he goes. That long range gun of 
his was captured, weighed twenty-four pounds, was tele- 
scope-mounted, a sort of mongrel howitzer. 

"A colonel is slashing away with his sabre in a ring 
of rebels. Down goes his horse under him ; they have 
him on the hip ; one of them is taking deliberate aim, w^hen 
up rushes a lieutenant, claps a pistol to one ear and roars 
in at the other, ' Who are you shooting at ? ' The fellow 
drops his piece, gasps out, ' I surrender,' and the next in- 
stant the gallant lieutenant falls sharply wounded. He is 
a ' roll of honor ' officer, straight up from the ranks, and 
he honors the roll. 

" A little German in Wood's division is pierced like the 
lid of a pepper box, but is neither dead nor wounded. 



192 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEEDAN'. 

* See here,' he says, rushing up to a comrade, ' a pullet hit 
te preach of mine gun, a pullet in mine pocket-book — a 
pullet in mine coat tail — they shoots me tree, five time, 
and I gives dem h — 1 yet ! ' 

" But I can render you no idea of the battle caldron 
that boiled on the plateau. An incident here and there 
I have given you, and you must fill out the picture for 
yourself. Dead rebels lay thick around Bragg's head- 
quarters and along the Ridge. Scabbards, broken arms, 
artillery horses, wrecks of gun-carriages, and bloody gar- 
ments strewed the scene ; and, tread lightly, oh ! loyal- 
hearted, the boys in blue are lying there ; no more the 
sounding charge, no more the brave, wild cheer, and never 
for them, sweet as the breath of the new-mown hay in the 
old home fields, ' The Soldier's Return from the War.' A 
little waif of a drummer-boy, somehow drifted up the 
mountain in the surge, lies there ; his pale face upward, 
a blue spot on his breast. Mufile his drum for the poor 
child and his mother. 

" Our troops met one loyal welcome on the height. 
How the old Tennesseean that gave it managed to get there 
nobody knows, but there he was, grasping a colonel's hand, 
and saying, while the tears ran down his face, ' God be 
thanked ! I knew the Yankees would fight ! ' With the 
receding flight and swift pursuit the battle died away in 
murmurs, far down the valley of the Chickamauga ; 
Sheridan was again in the saddle, and with his command 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 193 

spurring on after the enemy. Tall columns of smoke were 
risinjr at the left. The rebels were burnin<? a. train of 
stores a mile long. In the exploding rebel caissons we 
had ' the cloud by day,' and now we are having ' the pillar 
of fire by night.' The sun, the golden dish of the scales 
that balance day and night, had hardly gone down, when 
up beyond Mission Ridge rose the silver side, for that 
night it was full moon. The troubled day was done. A Fed- 
eral General sat in the seat of the man who, on the very 
Saturday before the hattle, had sent a flag to the Federal 
lines with the words : 

" ' Humanity would dictate the removal of all non- 
combatants from Chattanooga, as I am about to shell the 
city ! ' 

" Sat there, and announced to the Fourth Corps the 
congratulations and thanks, just placed in his hands, from 
the commander of the department : 

Braggs' Headquarters, Mission Ridge, November 25, 1863. 
" ' In conveying to you this distinguished recognition 
of your signal gallantry in carrying, through a terrible 
storm of iron, a mountain crowned with batteries and en- 
riched with rifle-pits, I am constrained to express my own 
admiration of your noble conduct, and am proud to tell you 
that the veteran Generals from other fields, who witnessed 
your heroic bearing, place your assaidt and triumph among 
tlie most brilliant achievements of the war. Thanks, 
13 



194 LIFE OF GE.^EKAL SHERIDAIT. 

soldiers ! You have made, this day, a glorious page of 
history. Gordon Granger.' " 

Such were the bloody days of Chattanooga, days of 
unsurpassed heroism, which covered with the highest 
glory of war in a righteous cause, the heroes of the Cum- 
berland army, among whom the still youthful " Phil" had 
no rival. There were scenes on the sanguinary field and 
in the hospitals such as were never witnessed before the 
war of national redemption through which we have pass- 
ed. I shall give an illustration of the spirit that animated 
our uncomplaining soldier boys. At Nashville a wounded 
hero was lying on the amputating table, under the influ- 
ence of chloroform. They cut off his strong right arm, 
and cast it, all bleeding, upon the pile of human limbs. 
They then laid him gently upon his couch. He woke 
from his stupor and missed his arm. With his left arm 
he lifted the cloth, and there was nothing but the gory 
stump ! " Where's my arm?" he cried ; " get my arm ; 
I want to see it once more — my strong right arm." They 
brought it to him. He took hold of the cold, clammy 
fingers, and looking steadfastly at the poor dead member, 
tlms addressed it with tearful earnestness : " Good-bye, 
old arm. We have been a long time together. Wo 
must part now. Good-bye, old arm. You'll never fire 
another carbine nor swing another sabre for the Govern- 
ment" — and the tears rolled down his cheeks. He. then 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 105 

daid to those standing by, " Understand : I don't regrei its 
loss. It has been torn from my body that not one State 
should be torn from this glorious Union." He might 
have added : 

" Some things are worthless, some others so good 
That nations that buy them pay only in blood ; 
For Freedom and Union each man owes his part, 
And here I pay my share, all warm from my heart." 

In the same city was another and very remarkable 
case of suffering, barbarity, and heroism. The surgeon 
relates the facts, which transpired under his eye : 
" While the regiment to which young Vance belonged 
was scouting near Taylorsville, Tennessee, he and a com- 
panion were taken prisoners. During the next twenty- 
four hours their captors treated them kindly. They 
neither saw nor heard any thing to lead them to suspect 
that any different treatment was in store for them till they 
came within a mile or two of Lebanon. Here the rebels 
wished to be free from the care of their prisoners. They 
therefore tied them to a tree. A Captain French, of the 
rebel army, objected to the plan of leaving them thus 
pinioned, and at once coolly and calndy drew his revolver 
and fired three shots through the head of each as they 
were pinioned to the trees. His companion was at once 
despatched ; but as Vance was unfastened he fell forward 
on his face, and another of the rebel band, named Cart- 
vvrio^ht, fired the fourth shot through the victim's head. 



196 LITE OF GENERAL SHEKIDAN. 

" Vance assures me that he did not at any time lose 
his consciousness. He heard all they said and knew all 
they did. Here he lay twenty-six hours, during the 4th 
and 5th of April, when he was discovered by some of our 
troops and brought into camp, and his wounds dressed by 
a surgeon of one of the Ohio regiments. Nothing was 
done for him till thirty-two hours after he was wounded. 
These are the facts. Now for the nature of the wounds. 

" They were inflicted by the large revolver used by 
our cavalry, and the cold-blooded murderers fired within 
a yard of the pinioned victim's head. The first shot took 
efiect about an inch back and below the right cheek-bone, 
and came out on the opposite side, about the same distance 
from the left cheek-bone. The second ball entered about 
an inch and a half below, and a little nearer the ear than 
the first, and passing through in the same line as the first, 
breaking the jaws and loosening the teeth. ' The third en- 
tered the neck just below and in a line vertical to the 
lower tip of the ear. This lodged in the opposite side of the 
neck, from whence the surgeon removed it. The fourth — 
the one that had been inflicted by Cartwright, after he had 
been thrown on his face — entered back of his ear, about 
the centre of combativeness, and escaped through his left 
eye, completely destroying it. And yet John W. Vance 
lives and looks well and hearty. He is an intelligent, fine 
looking young man, just arrived at his majority. I sat 
half an hour on the adjoming cot, and conversed with him 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 197 

and examined his wounds while he was eatinjr his dinner; 
and he ate with the relish of a man who loves life and 
desires to prolong it. The loss of his left eye will be his 
only real disfigurement. But how it was possible for four 
leaden messengers of death to pass through the parts they 
did without proving mortal is a marvellous problem." 

Compare with the uncomplaining anguish of the noble 
Western boys for the honor of the old flag, the lurking 
treason revealed in the pencilling on the fly-leaf of a 
Prayer-Book found in one of the churches there : 

" Hurrah for John Morgan ! The Marion of the 
South, following his footsteps as much so as the Apostles 
followed the footsteps of Christ." 

" There shall be a Southern Confederacy, so saith the 
Apostle Paul. See third verse, chapter fourth, Acts of 
the Apostles." 

" Hurrah for Jeff Davis and the Southern Confed- 
eracy ! the Lincoln hordes and Hessians ; polluting 

the homes and lands of Southern men ! Hurrah for 
Stonewall Jackson, the Deliverer of the Southern Soil, to 
our Southern Brethren. P. P. Phillips.'' 

What would Mr. Phillips now write under this note ii: 
ma '' Book of Common-Prayer" ? 



CHAPTER X. 

The pxirsuit of the Rebel Army— Oflf for Knoxville — In East Tennessee — M 
Conference of Generals — Sheridan at Washington — Succeeds General Pleas- 
anton in the Army of the Potomac — First Duty in his new Field- 

j^^^\0 prevent a successful rally of the shattered 
\r\ army of the Confederacy within reach of our 
forces, a pursuit was immediately ordered. At 
two o'clock in the morning the columns were in 
motion. Before noon, when near Chickamauga 
depot, they saw the flames of its conflagration. On ap- 
proaching it, heaps of corn and meal were burning. 
Here the " boys" saved, fit for use, one pontoon train of 
fifteen boats, two sixty-pounder guns, twenty army wag- 
ons, sixty thousand rations of shelled corn, fifty thousand 
rations of corn meal, four hundred gallons of molasses, 
two caissons, six forges, thirty barrels of pork, one thou- 
sand pounds of bacon, some ordnance stores, artillery, and 
small-arm ammunition. The carriages on which the 
siege guns were mounted were found in flames, and be- 




LQ'E OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 199 

came eventually totally destroyed. One of the guns was 
spiked with a wrought uail. 

The place presented a curious sight. A burning rail- 
road depot, piles of burning corn meal, barrels and boxes 
scattered around in the wildest confusion, piles of bacon 
lying on the railroad track, shelled corn scattered in piles 
around the railroad platform, two hea^y guns pointed in 
the direction of the expected Yankees, their carriages 
in flames ; a pontoon train, new, and apparently never 
used, massed near the station ; army wagons — some good 
and some broken down — turned over, on end, and every 
way displayed, in whatever direction the eye might turn ; 
small arms lying around, some broken and some not ; 
broken opeu boxes of ammunition for small arms thrown 
here and there, by the fire and away from it ; a caisson 
on one side, limber chest on the other, half open ; shells 
scattered under it, broken wheels, tongues of wagons, and 
other things pertaining to army transportation, thrown to 
the right and left, far and near, on all sides, and in the 
most disordered manner, showing that the enemy left with 
the greatest precipitancy, and before he could complete 
the destruction of one-third of his commissary, quarter- 
master, or ordnance stores. 

On an examination of the hills and fields around the 
station, breastworks and redoubts were found. The latter 
were well constructed, and if properly manned could not 
have been taken without considerable loss '"f life, and 



200 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEroAN. 

without such manoeuvring as pertains to regular opera- 
tions for battle. 

The inhabitants found in the place (which is but a 
small one) were few. They were so frightened at what 
had occurred, that it was some time before our men could 
get from them intelligent answers to their questions. Even 
after they had a chance to get a little quieted, all they 
would tell was that on the night previous, about eleven 
o'clock, the rebels commenced the movement of their 
stores — loading their teams and moving them off as fast 
as possible ; and that finally they set fire to what stores 
they could, when they found the Yankees pressing them, 
and left the place on a full run. 

Meanwhile General Longstreet was busy Avith his in- 
vestment of Knoxville ; an expensive toy in the field of 
national conflict it proved to be. And beginning to feel the 
insecurity of his position — Bragg being dislodged from his 
stronghold, and flying from the Union front — ^he deter- 
mined to retrieve the dishonor, so far as his connection 
with the army was concerned, by an attack upon our for- 
tifications. November 29th, 1863, there is a stir along 
lii& lines. A little later the rebel columns appear moving 
toward Fort Saunders. Then a d asperate cannonade 
opens, and the garrison replies. For a while the storm 
of impotent wrath beats hotly against the walls of the 
works which guard the troops of Burnside within, safely 
resting in the pleasant city of Knoxville. Compelled to 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 201 

fall back, the proud chief found our forces gradually gatli 
ering, like an anaconda coil, around him. Among the 
environing troops was the division of General Sheridan, 
in General Sherman's command. The rebel leader could 
do nothing better than make his escape. Raising the 
siege, he turned his face toward Virginia, followed by the 
cavalry. 

It will both amuse and interest the reader to see how 
the rebels felt in the vicinity of these operations. A 
prominent traitor telegraphed from Resaca to Richmond 
these words of alarm : " Grant has proved that he can 
do what so few of our generals have been able to accom- 
plish — follow up a victory in spite of natural obstacles ; 
and it is certain that he will not permit himself now to be 
stopped, either by mud or by a want of cars. These 
difficulties are by no means insurmountable. 

" Every one remembers the sanguine predictions of 
the impossibility of carrying on the siege of Vicksburg. 
Gentlemen owning plantations on which Grant's army 
was encamped before Vicksburg, declared that the sol- 
diers would perish for lack of water, or die like sheep 
with the rot, from drinking such as they could obtain. 
Moreover, we were told that the malarious diseases of 
the climate would decimate his army, and compel him to 
raise the siege. Further, it was stated by the same re- 
liable operator, who is now at work in Atlanta, cheering 
us with the assurance that the Yankees lost at least twenty 



202 LIFE OF GENEEAL SHEEIDAN. 

thousand men in the assault on Lookout Mountain, that 
Grant had lost quite fifty thousand of the flower of his 
army in the various attempts to storm the intrenchments 
at Vicksburg. How utterly fallacious all these predic- 
ions and assertions proved ! The siege of Vicksbm'g 
progressed steadily to its conclusion, without, so far as 
we have ever learned, any serious impediment whatever. 
In spite of water, climate, diseases, and repeated repulses, 
Grant compelled Pemberton to surrender in less than 
three months from the day the siege began. 

" Shall we again be the dupes of ill-founded hopes? 
Shall we rely for safety upon mud and not upon men ? 
Shall we trust to cars and not to energy? Heaven forbid ! 
The railroad from Nashville to Chattanooga is, doubtless, 
now open, and trains running all the way through. On 
this railroad any quantity of cars and engines necessary 
to stock the road from Chattanooga to Atlanta, may be 
brought through in less than a week's time. Two weeks 
more will be all that Yankee activity and ingenuity will 
demand to complete the rebuilding of burned bridges. 
But we doubt if Grant will await the arrival of cars and 
the completion of bridges. He has plenty of transpor- 
tation, and the whole North behind him to supply horses 
aud wagons as fast as they break down. * * * * 
What is to be done must be done without one moment's 
delay, and much must be given up in order that something 
may be saved. Grant's goal is Atlanta. He will be tliere 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAJST. 203 

before Christmas, and half the cotton remaining in the 
Confederacy will be in his hands or destroyed, unless a 
truly great general and a great army are placed athwart 
his path within three weeks from this day." 

A few weeks later, in February, General Sheridan 
was sent with two divisions into East Tennessee to finish 
the work of drivins; out the rebels. Havin"^ accom- 
plished the objects of his expedition, he returned to Chat- 
tanooga. 

March 9th General Grant was summoned to the 
presidential mansion, being then in Washington, to meet 
the Cabinet and other officials, and receive at the hand 
of the Chief Magistrate the commission of Lieut.-Generai 
of the armies of the United States. Soon after a confer- 
ence of the leading generals was called by him at Nash- 
ville, Tennessee, to confer with him respecting a new pro- 
gramme of war. General Sheridan was there, with his 
cheerful, modest, yet brave words of loyalty and martial 
enthusiasm. He was subsequently ordered to report t) 
Washington. General Grant, riding along the battle- 
flwept ridge during the battle at Chattanooga, had marked 
him for one of his few great leaders in the future cam- 
paigns. Still, when relieved from his command, he was 
in the dark regarding his fate. He passed through Nash- 
ville, but could not tell his friends why he was en route 
for the national capital. 

It was soon announced, however, that the Lieutenant- 



204 LIFE OF GENERAL feHERIDAN. 

General had placed Sheridan in command of all his cav- 
alry on the Potomac — in the place of General Pleas- 
anton, who was ordered to Missouri, under the com- 
mand of General Rosecrans — displaying the discrimina- 
tion of Napoleon in the selection of his generals, not only 
in this instance but in all his appointments. Sheridan had 
now a theatre of action suited to his genius, and the 
crowning mark of his glorious career as a soldier. With 
the fine ardor of heroism inspired by the consciousnees of 
this grand field of action, under the eye of Grant, and 
before the Potomac army, whose watchword for four 
years had been, " On to Richmond ! " he at once thor- 
oughly organized his large force into three divisions, 
under able officers, and reported himself ready for 
duty. 

May 3d the order is issued by General Grant to 
march. Tents disappear, and the arms and munitions of 
a magnificent army are prepared for the advance to bloody 
strife and victory. 

May 4th, the Rubicon in the march — the Rapidan — is 
crossed. Look on the princely generals at the head of 
those columns ! The iron man, Hancock, leading the 
second corps, makes the passage at Ely's Ford ; and the 
lion-hearted Sedgwick at the head of the Sixth, with the 
youthful Warren commanding the Fifth, go over on the 
pontoon causeway at Germania Ford. General Burnside, 
commanding the rear guard, remained still ou the north 



LIFE OF GENEEAL SHEEmAl^. 205 

bank of the river ; and where is the ever-wide-awaLe 
*'Phil. Sheridan"? 

Away the troopers are flying along the flanks of the 
moving host, for the protection of tlie exposed extremities, 
and then pushing out ahead the " eyes of the army " to 
see what the enemy is doing. General Grant's plan in 
the " onward to Richmond" movement was, not to hurl 
his battalions on Lee's intrenchments, but marching to 
the eastward, get between him and the Confederate cap- 
ital. This would bring the ablest chieftain of the rebel- 
lion from behind his defences to fight, or compel him to 
fall back on Richmond. Into the tangled, gullied, and 
swampy "wilderness" of Spottsylvania County, Vir- 
ginia, the hosts of freedom advanced. 

May 5th, just as the splendid columns turned to pass 
along and around the enemy's lines, aides from General 
Sheridan rode up to, General Meade with despatches. 
This brave commander broke the seal, read a moment, 
and then remarked to General Grant, " They say that 
Lee intends to fight us here ! " " Verily well," quietly 
responded General Grant. A brief conversation followed, 
during which the plan of battle was matured. 

Soon after came the shock of the meeting armies. 
Generals Ewell and Hill hurled their corps upon the col- 
umns of Warren and Hancock, concentrating on the weak- 
est point, which was at the centre, if possible to cut the 
army in two. The battle was most terrific, thundering 



206 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEBIDAN. 

on, while the darkness and night curtained the arena of 
slaughter. At length Lee retired. Neither he nor Gen- 
eral Grant knew the real condition of the field. The 
third sanguinary day closed, and the issue was still unde- 
cided. But on Saturday, the 9th, our troops again opened 
fire, but the enemy made no reply ; he was falling delib- 
erately back, ready to pause and grapple again with 
General Grant whenever necessary. 

Now commenced the chase for Spottsylvania Court 
House, both armies anxious to secure the position. The 
Sabbath brought only a partial cessation of the con- 
flict, with its solemn scenes of prayer and praise when- 
ever the chaplain could hold his accustomed service or 
Christian soldiers were grouped together. Monday, the 
lion-hearted Sedgwick, while directing gun-mounting on a 
conspicuous spot, fell before the sharpshooter's buUet. At 
night, like a half-moon, the white tents of the rebel host 
lay around Spottsylvania Court House ; while over 
against it, in wider curve, was the Union army. 

The following day opened anew the scenes of carnage 
Here General Grant sent his first despatch to Washing- 
ton. It breathes his characteristic tenacity of purpose 
and unyielding courage : 

'• We have now entered the sixth day of verj heavy 
fighting. The result, to tliis time, is very much in our 
favcr. Our losses have been heavy, as well as those of 
the enemy. I think the loss of the enemy must be 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN". 207 

greater. We have taken over five thousand prisoners 
in battle, while he has taken from us but few strag- 
glers. / propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all 
iummer.'" 

In this part of the wasting conflict fell the Cliristian 
hero General Rice. His message to his wife was, '' I have 
been true to my country ; " and his words to those around 
him were, " Oh, Jesus is very near ! " 

General Grant felt that, if possible to reach Richmond 
in this direction, it would be a very expensive route. He 
determined, therefore, upon a stroke of comprehensive 
and daring strategy, which was to swing his whole army 
around to the south side of the capital, and make James 
River the base of supplies. He quietly and with won- 
derful skill, right in the face of the foe, and yet before the 
strategy was discerned, removed his immense army across 
hostile territory, and over rivers, to the more hopeful po- 
sition for operations. The Confederate chief w^as amaze(f 
at the splendid achievement, which, but for reenforce 
ments sent to the capital, might have cost him his strong- 
hold. As it was. General Grant had a new and permanent 
base, and his hand fairly on his enemy's throat. 

During the week of reconnoitring by General Sheridan 
that followed the advance of the Army of the Potomac, 
he had sharp engagements with rebel forces at a place 
called Craig's Church, another known as Parker's Store, 
and at Todd's Tavern. To the cavalry was committed 



208 LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

the army trains and the ambulances carrying the wounded 
of the sanguinary march. 

On the 9th of IVIay General Meade directed General 
Sheridan " to select the best mounted troops of his com- 
mand and start off on an expedition to the rear of Lee's 
army, and cut off his communications and supplies, allow- 
ing him full discretion as to the best plan of effecting the 
object of the expedition. General Sheridan at once made 
preparation for this important movement, selecting the 
staff officers who were to accompany him, ordering the 
issuing of three days' rations to his men, and leaving be- 
hind every thing in the way of a train except the ammu- 
nition w^agons and two ambulances. The baggage act- 
ually indispensable was carried on pack mules. Thus 
freed from incumbrances, he moved on the same day on 
which General Meade's order was given, toward Fred- 
ericksburg ; but before reaching that city, tui'ned off 
toward Childsburg, and after a short rest moved thence 
to Beaver Dam station, on the Virginia Central Railroad, 
crossing the North Anna River at the fords. At Beaver 
Dam they found a rebel provost-guard with more than 
three hundred Union prisoners, who had been captured 
the day before at Spottsylvania ; these they promptly re- 
leased, taking the rebel guard prisoners. Thence moving 
toward Richmond, a detachment was sent to Ashland 
Station, on the Fredericksburg road, where they destroyed 
railroad-track, trains, station houses, and other rebel gov* 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERmAN. 209 

ernment property, and thea after a sharp fight rejoined 
the main cokimn. 

" On the 11th of May, Sheridan's command had 
reached a point within six miles of Richmond. Here 
they encountered the rebel cavalry under the command 
of Lieutenant-General J. E. B. Stuart in person ; and a 
severe battle took place, in which General Stuart was 
killed, and some rebel guns captured. The next morn- 
ing, before daybreak, a detachment was sent toward 
Richmond to reconnoitre, and penetrated to the second 
line of the defences of that city, within less than two 
miles of the capital, and, having captured a rebel courier, 
withdrew. Early in the morning of May 12, Sheridan's 
advance approached Meadow bridge on the Chickahominy, 
where they again encountered the enemy, who had de- 
stroyed the bridge and constructed defences commanding 
the railroad bridge over which the Union troops must 
cross. Nothing daunted, Sheridan's gallant troopers 
dashed across ; and though compelled to traverse about 
half a mile of swampy ground, rushed on the rebel 
works, and carried them after a most determined re- 
sistance. 

" Meantime another rebel force had come up in his 
rear and surrounded his command. Cool and calm as 
the Union commander habitually was in the most trying 
circumstances, here was a position to task his finest ener- 
gies in generalship. To attempt to retreat would in- 
14 



210 LIFE OF GENEKAL SHEEIDAN. 

evitably be fatal ; to go forward was to encounter a rebel 
force greatly outnumbering his own, and to cross a diffi- 
cult river (the Chickahominy) under their concentrated 
fire. His decision was quickly made. It was, to recon- 
struct the Meadow bridge over the Chickahominy, and 
cross it with his force and train. This he accomplished, 
though under fire all the time, keeping the rebels at bay 
with his artillery the while, and repelling their charges 
by fierce counter-charges. Once or twice his men w^ere 
slowly pressed back, but he encouraged them, and, fight- 
ing under his eye, they soon regained their position. At 
length the bridge was completed, and his ammunition 
train was to be taken across it ; and, if the rebel fire con- 
tinued, it could scarcely escape destruction from explo- 
sion, a destruction which would imperil his force and 
render their capture or death inevitable. But not for a 
single moment did his self-possession forsake him. Wheu 
the train was ready for advancing, he ordered up an am- 
munition-wagon, supplied his men who had fallen back 
with fresh cartridges, and, placing himself at theii head, 
said, 'Boys, you see those fellows yonder? They are 
green recruits just from Richmond. There's not a vet- 
eran among them. You have fought them well to-day, 
but we have got to whip them. We can do it, and we 
will ! ' The men responded with a rousing cheer, and 
with the order, ' Forward ! Charge ! ' in his clear ringing 
tones, he led them on in a charge which sent the rebels 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEKIDAN. 211 

flying back to their works ; and his artillery opened upon 
them, adding greatly to their terror. Under cover of this 
charge the train crossed in perfect safety. Pressing hard 
upon the now beaten and demoralized foe, amid a most 
terrific thunder storm, in which it was difficult to distin- 
guish between the artillery of heaven and the thunder of 
his guns, he drove them back to Mechanicsville, and 
finally to Cold Harbor, capturing a considerable number, 
and encamped with his weary command near Gaines* 
Mills. The next day he moved on to Bottom's Bridge, 
and the day following to General Butler's headquarters, 
not being molested in any of his movements. He then 
opened communication with Yorktown, and thence with 
Washington. Other expeditions may have resulted in a 
larger destruction of property, the capture of more pris- 
oners, or the traversing a larger region of territory, but 
none during the war has carried greater terror into the 
hearts of the enemy, or more gallantly extricated itself 
from a position of extraordinary difficulty. 

" The next few days were spent in cooperation with 
the great army now on its way toward the Chickahominy. 
General Sheridan's headquarters were at the White 
House, on the Pamuukey ; but he was for the most part 
at the front, dii'ecting the movements of the cavalry pro- 
tecting both wings of Grant's army, and several times 
engaged in sharp conflicts with the rebel cavalry, now 
under the command of Fitzhunrli Lee. On the 31st of 



212 LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

May he took possession of Cold Harbor, his troops hav 
ing orders to hold it until relieved by the infantry. This 
was done, though with considerable loss, for more than 
twenty-four hours, when the infantry force came up ; and 
General Sheridan then moved forward and guarded the 
flank of Grant's army in its movements to and across the 
James." 

Then the unwearied trooper was sent upon a new 
expedition toward the central region of the Old Domin- 
ion, north and west of General Lee's position, to reach, 
if possible, the main railways over which supplies were 
forwarded to Richmond. 

Gordonsville and Charlottesville, which you will notice 
on the map, are centres at which the Virginia Central, 
and of course the Virginia and Tennessee lines of com- 
munication, would be cut. General Hunter, who was to 
sustain his cavalry force, here failed, and the complete 
success of the enterprise was not attained ; and yet he 
did a noble work. He swept across the Pamunkey River 
to Aylett's Station, and thence, the day succeeding, to 
Chesterfield Station, on the Fredericksburg Railroad, 
twisting up the track there. 

Without resting on his flying march of destruction, he 
pushed to Childsburg, New Market, and Mount Pleasant, 
pausing for the night at Young's Bridge. Before the east 
was light with day-dawn, on the 10th of June, he led his 
horsemen forward, crossing the branches of the North 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 213 

Anna River, and encampiug at niglit near Trevilian Sta- 
tion on the Central Railroad. 

General Sheridan's plan was to cut out a large section 
of the railroad from this point, and then repeat the oper- 
ation from Gordonsville toward Charlottesville, and, ad- 
vancing upon the latter, seize the position. When, how- 
ever, he got to Buckchild's, he encountered the cavalry 
force ready to dispute his right to the way across the 
" sacred soil." The successful tactics of Boonsville, Mis- 
souri, two years before, again came to his rescue. He 
detailed a body of cavalry to strike the enemy in the rear, 
wliile his main force dashed upon the front with the ac- 
customed valor of his troops, and a fierce conflict foUoAved. 

At length the first line of breastworks was scaled, 
and with a shout the victors pushed forward to the sec- 
ond. Then hand-to-hand fighting again crimsoned the 
ground, till the rebels could no longer stand the charge, 
and fell back, flying at last froni the fortifications to the 
dense untravelled forest, and urging their way through it 
to Trevilian. There, detached horsemen came upon 
their rear, routing the Confederates, who left the position 
to Sheridan for his encampment on that night of weari- 
ness and exultation. 

The dawn of the 12th was reflected from the iniple- 
ments of ruin wielded by strong hands upon the iron 
track, till all the w^ay to Louisa Court House could be seen 
only charred oi burning ties and twisted bars of iron. 



OHAPTER XI. 

Thi» Alarm — The Strategy of Sheridan — The Victory — Ihe "Work of Destrue- 
tion — The Third Eebel Invasion of Maryland — A new Military Division- 
General Sheridan commands it — He is on the track of Early — The Rebel 
General at BeiTyville — The Battle of "Winchester opens. 

^AKING the alarm, rebel forces had gathered at 
Gordonsville to move down upon Trevilian. 
Formidable rifle-pits soon bristled within fom: 
miles from Sheridan, across his path of intended 
advance. Reconnoissance clearly disclosed the 
impossibility of overcoming the resistance with his light 
artillery, while also poorly supplied with ammunition, 
and he determined to avoid a general, battle. The right 
wing of the enemy was assailed with desperate gallantry, 
but his superior strength, arms, and supplies, made the 
onset hopeless. The shrewd and undaunted commander 
planned and executed a masterly retreat from his un- 
tenable position. You will notice his coolness, wisdom, 
and heroism, quite as finely presented as in the hottest 
battle. 




LIFE OF GENERAL SSEEmAN. 215 

" Returning to Trevilian Station he ordered supper, 
inviting his generals to sup with him ; and having given 
orders for the removal of the wounded who could be 
moved, and detailed surgeons to stay with those who 
were most severely injured, and perfected his order of 
march, he partook quietly of his tea, and then set about 
the withdrawal of his force from a position in which 
nearly the entire cavalry of the rebel army confronted it. 
While the train and the rear divisions were nioving off 
Avith the wounded, he ordered forty rounds of canister to 
be fired at the rebel position ; and when the enemy, sorely 
cut up by this fire, attempted to take the battery by a 
bold, sudden dash, he charged upon them with a regiment 
of cavalry, at the same time pouring in a fu]l round of 
canister at very short range, and hurled them back, while 
the gun was withdrawn, and then, when they were re- 
treating, moved quietly back ; and all his men being, by 
day-dawn, well out of Trevilian Station, he marched the 
next day fifteen miles to Troyman's store, without the 
slightest opposition, and the day following, June 14th, 
reached the vicinity of Spottsylvania Court House, which 
a month before had been the scene of such bloody and 
terrible battles. Here he remained a day, and on Wed- 
nesday evening reached Guiney's Station, on the Freder- 
icksburg and Richmond Railroad, where he established 
his headquarters for the time, but soon moved to White 
House, and thence marched to the James, to join General 



216 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEmAN. 

Grant. While moving toward the James, they were at- 
tacked by the enemy on the 23d of June at Jones's 
bridge over the Chickahominy, and on the 24th near St. 
Mary's Church, the rebels being on both occasions in 
strong force, and fully confident of their ability to over- 
whelm him. Sheridan acted entirely on the defensive, 
but produced such terrible havoc among the enemy with 
his artillery, fighting at short range, that they were in the 
end very willing to withdraw. During the afternoon and 
night of June 25th, General Sheridan crossed the James 
River, five miles above Fort Powhattan, on a pontoon 
bridge, protected on either side by gunboats, without 
loss, the enemy being kept at bay by them." 

During the last days of June and nearly the whole 
of July General Sheridan's cavalry were galloping across 
the country around Petersburg, making smoking ruins of 
many miles of railroad in a southerly direction from that 
city, itself the key to Kichmond. He reached the James 
River at Deep Bottom on July 27th, and the next day 
came upon the rebels at Malvern Hill. They had the 
smaller force, but fought like tigers to hold their position. 
For hours the rattle of small arms, the roar of artillery, 
and the shouts of fierce men, rose around and over the 
height. At length the enemy gave way. And now we 
have a new and exciting crisis in the civil war, with 
which Sheridan had an intimate and prominent connec- 
tion. The Confederates attempted for the third time the 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 217 

invasion of Maryland, making the Shenandoah valley 
the grand highway of the advance. The insurgent tide 
dashed proudly along, surprising Chambersburg, Pennsyl- 
vania, and leaving it desolate, then occupying Hagers- 
town and Frederick, Maryland, till General Ewell ap- 
proached the city of Baltimore, sending alarm to every 
home and heart. The design of the bold and terror- 
awakening movement was to call troops from General 
Grant's army, and, if possible, relax his hold upon Lee 
and Richmond. But " Mr. Grant is a very obstinate 
man," as Mrs. Grant said, and nothing could decoy or 
frighten him from his watching the prey worthy of his 
eagle eye. He sent a single corps, the Sixth, which he 
could spare, to aid in protecting the nation's capital. 
With this contribution to her defence. General Grant deter- 
mined to leave the trembling North to such help as the 
Department of the Gulf, and the loyal troops, including 
militia scattered through Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsyl- 
vania, could furnish. They were sufficient, if marshalled 
under able commanders, instead of remaining in four dis- 
tinct military departments, whose leaders were unharmo- 
nious in feeling and counsel. The comprehensive genius 
of Grant at once saw the remedy. Of the Department of 
"Washington, including the Capitol and Baltimore, with 
the region around ; the Department of the Susquehanna, 
comprising Eastern and Central Pennsylvania and North- 
ern Maryland ; the Department of West Virginia, formed 



21 S LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

of Northwest Virginia ^nd Western Pennsylvania ; and 
of the Middle Department, composed of the Shenandoah 
country and the region eastward to the Bull Run Moun- 
tains ; the lieutenant-general proposed to make a military 
division to be called the Middle Military Division, and 
was subsequently known as the Military Division of the 
IShenandoah. To this unrivalled command, in extent and 
importance, General Grant assigned General P. H. Sheri- 
dan — a choice whose wisdom the future of his career 
brilliantly illustrated. The youngest major-general, he 
had no superior; he knew preeminently how to inspire 
with martial ardor, and effectively handle large bodies of 
troops. 

His command of this magnificent field was dated 
July 7, 1864. On that day he removed his headquarters 
to Harper's Ferry. Meanwhile General Early had moved 
up the Shenandoah vaUey laden with plunder, and re- 
joicing in the prospect of a holiday march through the 
Garden of Virginia toward freedom's soil. Sheridan at 
cnce prepared to contest the right to such pastime at the 
expense of the dear cause of the Repubhc. His columns 
soon crowded upon the front of invasion, pushing Early 
back from Martinsburg and Williamsport, and making 
of these border towns defensive positions. His next work 
was to feel the enemy and ascertain his strength, by put- 
ting in. the appearance of a general advance. The vain 
glorious Early supposed this to be General Sheridan's 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 



219 



object, and fell back slowly to lure him into his 

power. 

Cautiously and boldly ''Little PhH" stole the march 
on his gi-eater adversary in physique and arrogance, made 
sure of his ground, and refused to move a step upon 
clearly dangerous territory. August 12th he was at 
Winchester, and moved forward to Front Royal. Here 
a fight of considerable severity transpired, in which the 
Union "boys" were victorious. It was now Sheridan's 
tarn to try the retreating poUcy. 'He abandoned Win- 
chester, and concentrated his forces at Harper's Ferry. 
The movement brought Early northward again, while 
General Torbert played around his lines watching every 
motion, while occasionally sharp skirmishing occurred 
between the troops. Determined to prevent a southern 
inarch of Early's battalions to join Lee, General Sheridan 
at once made the onward movement, apparently to offer 
battle, and then retired to Charlestown to draw them 
further toward the Potomac. General Early was de- 
ceived, and supposing his antagonist was timid, determin- 
ed to try flanking him, and by this means get again into 
Maryland. Pushing forward to Berryville, he issued a 
sounding order respecting the grand advance. General 
Early congratulated himself upon his successful move- 
ment to BerryviUe. This is a post village sixty-two 
miles from Washington, and one hundi'cd and fifty-eight 
from Kichmond. 



220 LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

General Sheridan was more than ready to meet his 
confident enemy — impatient to try his steel upon him. 
The undiverted, unyielding Grant, was beating away 
upon Lee's lines, keeping him too much alarmed to spare 
troops for Early to swell his command to an overwhelm- 
ing force. About this time General Sheridan sent the 
subjoined despatch : 

"Near Berryville, Y p. m., September 13, 1864. 
*^ Lieutenant- General Grant, City Point : 

" This morning I sent General Getty's division of the 
Sixth corps, with two brigades of cavalry, to the crossing 
of the Summit Point and Winchester Road over the Ope- 
quan Creek, to develop the force of the enemy at the 
crossing in that vicinity. Rhodes, Ramseur's, Gordon's, 
and Wharton's divisions were found on the west bank. 
At the same time Generals Wilson and Mcintosh's bri- 
gade of cavalry dashed up the Winchester pike, drove the 
rebel cavalry at a run, came in contact with Kershaw's 
division, charged it, and captured the Eighth South Caro- 
lina regiment, sixteen officers, and one hundred and forty- 
five men, and its battle-flag, and Colonel Hennegan, com- 
manding brigade, with a loss of only two men killed and 
two wounded. Great credit is due to Generals Wilson 
and Mcintosh, the Third New Jersey and Second Ohio. 
The charge was a gallant one. A portion of the Second 
Massachusetts reserve brigade made a charge on the 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEKrOAN. 221 

right of the line, and captured one officer and eleven meTi 
of Gordon's division of infcintry. Our loss in the recon- 
noissance is very light. 

" P. H. Sheridan, Major-General." 

The cavalry were on the lookout for work, and on the 
17th met the rebels at Darksville, about twenty miles 
from Berryville, also on a branch of the Opequan Creek, 
which empties into the Potomac. 

The infantry had encountered the enemy in force at 
Perryville, driving him toward Winchester, where the 
routed cavalry had joined him. General Sheridan's posi- 
tion was exceedingly favorable. The Confederates were 
on the west side of Opequan Creek, while he was be- 
tween them and their true line of retreat, which was 
southeasterly through the passes of the Blue Ridge tow- 
ard Richmond. In addition to this advantage, one of 
their divisions had been sent to another field, weakening 
the strength of Early, who was quite sure of handling at 
his leisure the forces of Sheridan. The latter was willing 
he should think so, but determined soon to undeceive 
him, by making the attempt to push him to the southwest ; 
a damaging, crippling blow, if successful, which would 
keep him at bay for a season, if it accomplished no more. 

On the morning of September 19, 1864, at 2 o'clock, 
you might have seen the battalions of Sheridan " break- 
ing camp " near Berryville. All were astir with the 



222 LIFE OF GENEKAL SHEKIDAN. 

calm and serious enthusiasm which animates an army 
moving to battle. As the night waned before the day, it 
w^as a splendid sight to look upon — that host winding 
through a deep and narrow gorge, and deploying right in 
the face of a veteran army behind strong intrenchments. 
There were numberless heavy wheels carrying forward tlie 
grim cannon, the ammunition, and the ambulance. A long 
line of infantry bordered the rough way on either side of 
this procession, the columns stumbling over the rocks and 
gullies, and thi'ough the tangled underbrush. All over 
the slopes were scattered the throng that do not fight, but 
belong to every army. On rock, under green bush, and 
sheltering bank, sat the hospital attendants, the people of 
the quartermasters and commissaries, the sick and the 
skulkers^ gazing at the magnificent cavalcade. The 
pioneer cavalry who had cleared the track over Opequan 
Creek and returned, were crowded into the same narrow 
passage of death. Occasionally the litters were borne 
past with bleeding men, and the burden removed to the 
hospital tent, where the surgeon's knife did its bloody- 
work, staining the rude soil with patriotic gore. The 
tight in front had opened, and soon the moving ranks be- 
hind would enter its fire and smoke, from which came 
" an occasional boom of the cannon, deadening to a dull 
fum, pum, by the woods and distance." 

An officer who was there in the thickest of the fray, 
writes of the eventful day and the plan of battle ; 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEKmAN. 223 

" A narrow ravine, winding among hills so steep and 
thickly wooded as to be impassable for any troops but 
light infantry, debouches into an irregular, undulating 
valley, faced on the south by an amphitheatre of stony 
heights, laid, with regard to each other, like detached for- 
tifications. The object of Sheridan was to pass through 
this ravine, deploy in the valley, amuse the enemy's right, 
fight his centre vigorously, turn and force his left. The 
object of Early was to allow us to deploy up to a certain 
extent ; then to beat in our attacking columns and throw 
them back in confusion on our line of advance ; lastly, to 
ruin us by pushing his strong left through our right, and 
reaching the mouth of the gorge so as to cut off our re- 
treat. To eifect this final purpose his army was not 
drawn up at right angles to the pike, but diagonally to 
it, so as to bring his left nearer to our vital debouching 
point. And this fatal stroke he attempted early in the 
day, with a strong column, pushed with remarkable 
vigor, and for a time with terrible promise of success. 

" At about ten o'clock the head of the Sixth Corps 
emerged from the ravine, took ground rapidly to the left, 
and advanced in two lines, the first of which presently 
carried a rifle-pit and wood that formed the outwork of 
the enemy's right. Tnis right wing being refused, or 
held aloof, our extreme left had throughout the day, so 
far as I could learn, no very serious fighting. The open- 
ing struggle of supreme importance came in the centre, 



224 LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

?7here it was necessary, firstly, to gain ground enough tc 
bring up our second line ; and, secondly, to hold the ap- 
proaches to the ravine at no matter what cost of slaugh- 
ter. I besr the reader to remark that if this was not done 

O 

our striking right could not be deployed, and our retreat 
could not be secured ; that if this was not done there 
could be no victory, and there must be — if the enemy 
pushed us with energy — calamitous defeat. Upon the 
Nineteenth Corps and upon Rickett's division of the 
Sixth Corps devolved this bloody task. They were to 
sustain the principal bm-den of the battle during the long 
hours which would be necessary to let the Eighth Corps 
sweep around on its more enviable and brilliant mission 
of turning the hostile position. How the Nineteenth 
Corps performed its portion of the task is shown by its 
list of killed and wounded. Swept by musketry and ar- 
tillery from the front, enfiladed by artillery from the 
right, pressed violently by the one grand column of at- 
tack which Early massed to decide the battle, it bled, but 
it stood, and, after hours of suffering, advanced. 

*' Closely following the Sixth Corps — lapping its rear, 
indeed — Grover's division emerged from the defile at a 
little before eleven o'clock, and forming in two lines, 
each consisting of two brigades, moved promptly for- 
ward in superb order. Steep hills and a thick wood, 
impracticable for artillery until engineered, rendered it 
necessary for the infantry to open the contest without the 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEEDAN. 225 

support of cannon. In face of a vigorous shelling the 
column swept over the hills, struggled through the wood, 
and emerged upon a broad stretch of rolling fields, on 
the other side of which lay the rebel force, supported by 
another wood and by a ledge of rocks, which answered the 
purpose of a fortification, with the semicircular heights of 
Winchester in the rear, as a final rallying base. As the 
lines of advance from the gorge were divergent, opening 
outward like the blades of a fan. General Emory found it 
necessary, in order to keep up a connection with the Sixth 
Corps, to hurry Molineaux*s brigade from the rear to the 
front. This was done at a double-quick, in face of the 
hostile musketry, without checking the general advance. 
And now the division quickened its pace into a charge of 
unusual and unintended impetuosity, the ofiicers being 
dragged on by the eagerness of the men, the skirmishers 
firing as they ran, and the brigades following at a right* 
shoulder-shift, with deafening yells. Birge's men car- 
ried the detached w^ood with a rush : they were ordered 
to halt there and lie down, but it was impossible to stop 
them ; they hurried on, pell-mell, and drove the enemy 
three hundred yards beyond. The rebel General Rhodes 
was killed while placing a battery in position. Three 
colonels, taken by Sharpe's brigade, were sent back to 
Emory as prisoners, Early's first line in the centre was 
everywhere thrown back in confusion." 

There is special danger of a sudden return of the re 
15 



226 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEKIDAN. 

cediQo; tide, when there lies back of xt a reserved force to 
meet and sweep it forward again. Suddenly Early, by 
prompt and decisive action, doubtless suggested by Gen- 
eral Grover's advance, brought from a sheltered position 
not less than two divisions which had not appeared 
during the day, pouring into the Union ranks, disordered 
already by the celerity of the onset, a wasting fire. At 
the same moment, from an eminence near Winchester, a 
battery sent whistling over the heads of the rebels be- 
tween it and our troops, and down upon Grover's and 
Rickett's men, shell, grape, and canister. 

For a time the terrible onslaught threatened to over- 
whelm the unterrified Sheridan — it was so unexpected 
and destructive. General Rickett's columns surged back 
toward the gorge, along the Berryville and Winchester 
pike. That wild pass could not be spared by our array, 
cost what it might. Oh, what fighting was there ! At 
first, almost hand to hand the combatants struggled, 
until around the colors of Lieutenant-Colonel Neafie's 
One Hundred and Fifty-sixth New York regiment, only 
forty men were left. The rest had gone down to the 
crimson earth before the deadly hail, or fled from its 
fury. Then came a frightful flank fire upon the whole 
l)rigade, in addition to the ceaseless tempest on the front. 
In a few minutes a hundred and fifteen fallen heroes 
covered a small area, and to attempt the holding of such 
a posidoD , with all the regimental commanders but one 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEmAN. 227 

killed or wounded, was to let the troops be murdered or 
captured with a wholesale havoc. 

The retreat was sounded, and swept down the line 
of brigades, each in turn obeying the inevitable knell of 
their anticipated victory. 

There is a fact illustrated in this defeat not often al- 
luded to in the annals of war. Adds the hero in the 
fight: 

" The reader can conceive the hopeless, unresisting 
slaughter which attends the withdraAval of troops from 
the immediate presence of a powerful enemy. There is 
no inspiriting return of blow for blow ; there is no possi- 
bility of quelling the hostile fire by an answering fire ; 
the soldier marches gloomily in his file, imagining that 
his foe is ever gaining on him ; the ranks are rapidly 
thinned, and the organization of the companies shat- 
tered ; and thus, from both physical and moral causes, 
the bravest battalions go to pieces. Rarely does it hap- 
pen, if ever, that a force is extricated from this fearful 
trial without breaking. Grover's and llickett's com- 
mands reached the base from which they had advanced 
in a state of confusion which threatened wide-spread dis- 
aster. Sixth Corps men and Nineteenth Corps men were 
crowding together up the line of t\^ Berryville pike, while 
to the right and left of it the fields were dotted with fugi- 
tives, great numbers of them wounded, bursting out of 
the retiring ranks and rushing toward the cover of the 



228 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAJST. 

forest. Some regiments disappeared for a time as or- 
ganizations. Early's veterans advanced steadily, with 
yells of triumph and a constant roll of murderous mus 
ketry, threatening to sweep away our centre and render 
our struofo-le a defeat almost before it had become a bat- 
tie. It was the bloodiest, the darkest, the most pictur- 
esque, the most dramatic, the only desperate moment of 
the day. General Emory and General Grover, with 
every brigade commander and every staff officer present, 
rode hither and thither through the fire, endeavoring by 
threats, commands, and entreaties to halt and re-form the 
panic-stricken stragglers. 

" ' Halt here, men,' Emory cried to group after 
group. ' Here is good cover. Halt and form a line here.* 

" ' I am looking for my own regiment,' was the usual 
reply. 

" ' Never mind your own regiments. Never mind 
if you belong to fifty regiments. Make a regiment 
here.' 

" Pointing out other groups to this and that ofiftcer of 
his staff, he would say, ' My God ! look at these men ; 
ride over to them, and bring them up here.' 

" Captain Yorke of the staff seized a regimental flag 
and bore it forward, jjjiouting, ' Men, don't desert your 
colors,' when a spent ball struck him in the throat, par- 
alyzing him for a time and causing him to drop his bur- 
den. Of the other staff officers Captain Wilkinson had 



LIFE OF GENEEAL SHERIDAN. 229 

his horse killed under him. Captain Coley had ^ tjullet 
pass through his coat collar, and Major Walker received 
a spent shot in the shoulder. 

" One instance of coolness and discipline, which con- 
trasted curiously with the general panic, was noticed by 
Captain Bradbury, of the First Maine battery, now Major 
and Chief of Artillery on General Emory's staff. Throfugh 
the midst of the confusion came a captain of infantry, Rig- 
by of the Twenty-fourth Iowa, leading a sergeant and 
twelve men, all marching as composedly as if returning 
from drill. 

" ' Captain, you are not going to retreat any further, 
I hope,' said Bradbury. 

" ' Certainly not,' was the reply. ' Halt ; front ! 
Three cheers men ; hip, hip, hurrah ! " 

" The little band cheered lustily. It was the first note 
of defiance that broke the desperate monotony of the 
panic ; it gave heart to every one who heard it, and made 
an end of retreat in that part of the field. In a few min- 
utes the platoon swelled to a battalion composed of men 
from half a dozen regiments. 

" ' Bradbury,' said General Grover, ' you must push 
a section into that gap. We must show a front there.' 

" Under a heavy fire of musketry and artillery two 
pieces galloped into the opening, under the charge of 
Bradbury himself, and, unsupported by infantry, com- 
menced a cannonade which assisted greatly in checking 



230 LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

the rebel advance and encouraging our men to rally. A 
Confederate line which attempted to carry these pieces 
was repulsed in a somewhat singular manner. General 
Emory had personally aided in rallying the One Hundred 
and Thirty-first New York, and had posted it in a narrow 
grove projecting from the wood which now formed Gro- 
ver's base of resistance. The charging rebels were al- 
lowed to pass this point, and then a volley was poured 
into their backs. As they staggered under the unexpected 
shock a fire was opened upon their front by another ral- 
lied line, and breaking ranks, they fled pellmell across 
the fields to cover. 

" Thus piece by piece our shattered first line was 
picked up and reunited. The rebel attack was checked, 
and a large portion of the lost ground recovered. On the 
left Neafie, now commanding the Third Brigade, made a 
second charge nearly up to his original position, while on 
the right Molineux pushed a line to within two hundred 
yards of the isolated wood which Birge had carried and 
lost. And now came into action the famous First Division 
of the Nineteenth Corps — a division that had never been 
put to shame on any field of battle, the division that under 
Weitzel had triumphed at Camp Bisland and Port Hud- 
son, that under Emory had prevented defeat at Sabine 
Cross-Roads and Pleasant Hill. From this moment my 
story of the battle will become to some extent a record of 
personal observation. 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 231 

" We of the First Division were already out of the 
defile, and drawn up in two columns behind Grover, when 
the failure of his attack became evident. The difficulty 
was, not that we were not in hand, but that, as we bad 
only two brigades present (the third having been left at 
Halltown), we were hardly strong enough to face the 
enemy's left, which far outsreached our right, and at the 
same time make head against the vehement attack which 
threatened our centre. It had been intended that we 
should remain in reserve until the time came for us to 
join the Eighth Corps, in the grand turning movement of 
the day. Now we must fill up gaps, run from one im- 
perilled point to another, and, in short, be used as the 
urgency of circumstances required. 

" Lying in a hollow, across which tlie rebel shell 
screamed harmlessly, I saw our First Brigade disappear 
over the crest of the hill in our front. Then we of the 
Second Brigade moved in column to the right, and halted 
on a lofty slope, where we could discover some parts of 
the field of battle, and where the earth was occasionally 
furrowed by the shot of hostile artillery. Far away to 
the left I saw a part of the Sixth Corps mount an acclivity 
and charge into a wood on its summit from which the 
smoke of musketry issued. I distinguished their distant 
cheer, and rejoiced in their gallantry and triumph. We 
knew nothing all this while of the disaster which had oc- 
curred in our front, and did not doubt that we should 



232 LIFE OF GENERAL SIIEEIDAN. 

have our customary success. Presently we advanced intn 
the wood, on the extreme verge of wiilch Grover's men 
were rallying and resuming the conflict. We did not 
see them, but we plainly heard the incessant rattle of 
their musketry, and, not knowing the rolling nature of the 
ground, wondered that the bullets did not hum more fre» 
quently through our ranks. Soon we turned to the right 
again, and emerged into an opening from which we ob- 
tained our first clear view of the fighting. Nearly a 
quarter of a mile in advance of us we saw our First Bri- 
gade in line behind a rail-fence, the men kneeling or lying 
down and keeping up a violent file-firing. Two hundred 
yards beyond them was the wood which Early had re- 
taken from Birge, a smoke of rebel musketry now rising 
from it, although not a rebel was visible. As we looked, 
our men rose up, formed, faced about, and came slowly 
toward us, the officers running hither and thither to check 
a momentary confusion in the ranks. The report flew 
alono- our line that they were ordered back to the fence 
where we stood, and that we were to relieve them ; but 
while we watched the unaccomplished movement, two of 
our four regiments, the Tv/elfth Connecticut and' Eighth 
Vermont, were faced to the left, and hurried back through 
the w^ood which we had just traversed. The last thing 
that I saw as I reentered the covert was the One Hun- 
dred and Sixteenth New York facing about with a cheer 
and charging back to the fence. I afterwards learned 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 233 

that the whole brigade followed it ; that the hue was a 
second time ordered back, and then again resumed its 
position. Here it was tliat the One Hundred and Four- 
teenth New York offered up its glorious sacrifice of one 
hundred and eighty men and officers, being three-fifths of 
the number which it took into battle. After the engage- 
ment the position of the brigade was distinguishable by 
a long, straight line of dead and dying, here and there 
piled one upon another, the prostrate and bloody ranks 
telling with matchless eloquence how the American sol- 
dier can fight. 

" While the One Hundred and Sixtieth New York and 
Forty-seventh Pennsylvania remained to support the First 
Brigade and share its fatal honors, my regiment and the 
Eighth Vermont moved back to the centre. We were 
apparently wanted in many places at once. Pressing and 
contradictory orders repeatedly changed our direction and 
position. It was ' Forward ! * and ' About face ! * ' By 
the right flank!' and 'By the left flank!' 'Double 
quick ! ' and ' Halt ! ' until our heads were half-turned by 
the confusiou. At last we came to the outskirt of the 
wood, and looked out upon Grover's field of battle. No 
ranks of enemies were visible athwart those undulating 
fields, but there were long light lines of smoke trom mus- 
ketry and great piles of smoke from batteries, while the 
rush and crash of shell tore through the forest. Brad- 
bury was putting two of his pieces in position, and we laj 



234 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEKIDAN. 

dowTi in their rear to support them. General Emory and 
General Dwight, mounted and surrounded by staff of- 
ficers, were a little to the front surveying the position. 
* My God ! ' remarked the former, as he saw men and 
horses falling around him, * this is a perfect slaughter- 
house. It must be held ; it is the key of the position, 
but tell Captain Bradbury to keep his people covered as 
much as possible.' 

" Here fell one of the best and bravest gentlemen in 
the service, the only field-officer present with our regi- 
ment, Lieutenant-Colonel Peck. He had just given the 
command, ' Officers rectify the alignment,' as we were 
about to move forward, when a shell burst among us, one 
piece of it shattering his knee and mortally mangling the 
arteries. A moment afterwards the Eighth and Twelfth 
were ordered to move into the open, wheel to the riglit, 
and relieve a portion of Molineux's brigade, which lay 
about two hundred yards from the isolated wood. At a 
double quick we went nearly a quarter of a mile over 
gently-rolling fields, pulling up occasionally from pure 
lack of breath, and then hurrying on again, until we 
flung ourselves on the ground among the Fourteenth 
New Hampshire and One Hundred and Thirty-first 
New York. 

" As the enemy were firing low, we suffered very little 
in our advance ; but we had not been in position five min- 
utes before we felt how coolly and surely Lee's veterans 



-LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 235 

could aim ; for, stretched at full length as we all were, 
and completely concealed by tall grass, the bullets 
searched out our covert with fatal certainty. A groan 
here, a shriek of agony there, a dying convulsion, a 
plunge of some wounded wretch to the rear, showed from 
instant to instant how rapidly our men were being dis- 
abled. We lay on a gentle, very gentle slope, and aimed 
upward, so that our fire was probably even more fatal 
than that of our adversaries, an ascending range being 
more sure of its mark than a descending one. After a 
quarter of an hour here, our commander. Captain Clarke, 
ordered a volley. With the usual cautionary commands 
from the officers of ' Steady, men ! * ' Wait for the 
Word ! ' ' Aim low ! ' the regiment rose up, closed its 
ranks, and poured in a splendid crash of musketry, drop- 
ping immediately that it was delivered. For a few min- 
utes our antagonists were silenced. Perhaps we had 
slaughtered them ; perhaps the venomous flight of hissing 
Minies had frightened them into taking cover ; perhaps 
they simply saved their powder because they supposed 
that we were about to charge. But presently the steady 
file-firing was resumed. On each side the men fired low, 
fired slowly, fired calmly, knowing full well the hostile 
position, although able to discover no hostile sign except 
the light opposing line of musketry smoke. For two or 
more hours the bullets whizzed through the grass which 
scarcely concealed us, striking into our prostrate ranks so 



236 LITE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

frequently that every one occasionally searched the branches 
of the trees in our front to discover the forms of hostile 
sharpshooters. It seemed impossible that they could strike 
so many of us, and yet not see us. Of the seventy men and 
officers whom our regiment lost during the day, at least 
sixty must have been hit cm this line. But the enemy 
fired much more rapidly and continuously than we did. 
The word was repeatedly passed along our ranks to spare 
the cartridges, for we were a long way from our supports, 
or from any chance of replenishing ammunition, and it 
was necessary to save shots enough to repulse the rebels 
in case they should charge us with the bayonet. ' Fire 
down to ten cartridges a-piece, and then stop,' was the 
order of our commander. 

" A curious change came over our men during this 
long trial. At first they were grave and anxious, but this 
passed away as they became accustomed to the position ; 
at the last they laughed, jested, and recklessly exposed 
themselves. Corporal Gray, of Company C, dashed to 
the front, and with his shelter-tent beat out a flame which 
was kindling in the autumn grass, returning unhurt out 
of a frightful peril. ' Here's one for Corporal Gray ! ' 
shouted several men, leaping up and pulling trigger. 
Then followed, ' Here's one for Sheridan ! ' and ' Here's 
one for Lincoln ! ' and ' Here's one for McClellan, who'll 
pay us ofi* in gold ! ' and ' Here's one for JeiT. Davis ! '' 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 237 

until the grim joke was played out for lack of car- 
tridges. 

'' All this time our dead and wounded lay among us, 
with the exception of a few of the latter who crawled a 
little to the rear, and found shelter in a ditch. Among us, 
too, were the dead and wounded of the regiments which 
we had relieved ; and the ground in front of us w^as 
strewn with other sufferers who had fallen there when 
Birge met his reverse. The position of these last was 
horrible ; the musketry of both si^es passed over them in 
a constant stream ; the balls of friend and foe added to 
their agony, or closed it in death. One of our men, 
Private Brown, of Company C, was mortally wounded 
while giving a drink of w^ater to an officer of an Iowa 
regiment who lay within ten paces of us, pierced by 
three bullets. Wt could not carry away these children 
of suffering, not even our own, until the battle should be 
o\ er. It was forbidden by orders ; it was contrary to 
the regulations of the United States army ; it would have 
been simply an act of well-meant folly and cruelty. We 
could not spare the men, who would surely be killed or 
wounded in the attempt ; or who, reaching the shelter of 
the rear with their dangerous burdens, would not find 
their way back again." 

Such was the "close line-fighting" all over the field 
in this fierce battle hour of Northern and Southern valor. 



238 LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

The whole length of the front on both sides exhibited the 
most desperate courage. At no point would the troops 
yield, nor could they advance, but " clung to their own 
positions" with a sublime tenacity of purpose to conquer 
or die. 



CHAPTER XI. 

The Decisive Moment in the Battle — The Victorious Onset — Scenes on the 
Field— The gallant Chief after the Triumph— Anecdotes of him— The Dy- 
ing Soldier after the Charge. 

I T became at last evident to Sheridan that the mo- 
ment for bold and decisive action had come. The 
Sixth and Nineteenth Corps were to keep the 
enemy busy with them in unceasing conflict, while 
the Eighth Corps was to execute the " turning 
movement." Three o'clock ! it was the hour on which 
hung the fortunes of the terrible day. From the right, 
where the undulating ground concealed the troops from 
the rest of the army, rose a battle-cry heard over the san- 
guinary plains of strife ; the wild shout of men who, un- 
conquerable, were rushing upon the hostile lines with re- 
sistless heroism. Crook was advancing. His ranks were 
met by such a tempest from the solitary forest which lay 
toward the rear of the enemy, as seldom beats upon brave 
defenders of a national flag. It was a continual roar, 
as of the tornado when it sweeps with desolation in ita 



240 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 

track from the wilderness — no pause, no " tremor " in the 
explosion ; but an awful '• wail of musketry" swelling up 
from the green foliage. Can Crook's braves breast such 
a tempest of fire, and through it strike the foe ? See them 
stretching along in single line over the open fields, steady, 
and on the quickstep, while the dead and wounded drop 
and are left behind. The iron and leaden hail is poured 
from the woods upon the caravan of advancing men, 
who fire in return occasionally, but calmly and de- 
liberately, as though upon a squirrel hunt in that 
Golgotha. / 

Writes an eye-witness : "At this moment our whole 
army assumed the offensive. And now occurred one of 
those happy dashes, almost spontaneous in their charac- 
ter, which so frequently aid in deciding a battle. At the 
first yell of Crook's charge our men reopened fire vio- 
lently, exhausting their ammunition in five minutes ; and 
then Colonel Thomas, of the Eighth Vermont, regardless 
of unloaded muskets and empty cartridge-boxes, led on 
his command at a double quick with the bayonet. Gen- 
eral officers and staff officers, misunderstanding the orders 
of General Emory, which were to advance, came up at a 
gallop, telling us that we were to be relieved by the One 
Hundred and Sixtieth New York, warning us to wait for 
our supports, and shouting, ' Halt ! Lie down ! ' But it 
was impossible to check the crowd of yelling, running 
madmen ; a few would hesitate, and stare around at their 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEErOAN. 241 

advancing comrades, then they would dash on with re- 
newed speed to make up the lost distance. While the 
regiment thus wavered between discipline and impulse, a 
mounted officer belonging, as I afterward heard, to Sher- 
idan's staff — a florid, dashing young fellow, in a gayly- 
embroidered blue shirt, with trowsers tucked into his 
long boots — galloped in front of us from the direction of 
the Eighth Corps, and pointed to the wood with his drawn 
sabre. It was the most chivalrous, the most picturesque 
equestrianism of battle that I ever saw. It was as fine 
as a painting of Horace Vernet or of Wouvermans. As 
a contrasting picture, let me introduce an infantry officer 
whom I noticed at the same moment, running breathless, 
twenty feet in advance of the line, his blanket-roll over 
his shoulders, and his swx)rd sheathed, but waving his 
men forward with a larg« brier-wood pipe, for he was 
smoking when the charge was ordered- From the instant 
that that American St. George in the embroidered shirt 
appeared, aU hope of stopping us vanished. The men 
sprang out with a yell like wild beasts^ and the wood was 
carried on a full run, while the rebels rushed out of it at 
the top of their speed, many of them throwing away their 
guns and accoutrements. As we came in from one side 
Crook's troops entered from another, the two conrmands 
converging, and for a moment mingling together in the 
tumultuous triumph. 

" Thus passed the crisis of the battle. Early had 
18 



242 LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

used up at least two divisions of infantry in retaking and 
endeavoring to hold this wood, which was so essential to 
him ; 1st, as covering his centre ; 2d, as being his most 
favorable base whence to launch an attack against our 
course of retreat, the Berryville and Winchester pike. 
The slaughter in and around the grove proved the im- 
portance which each party attached to the possession of 
it. Looking down the gentle slopes over which our 
troops had advanced, retreated, and again advanced, we 
saw piles and lines of dead and wounded which could 
hardly be estimated at less than fifteen hundred men. In 
the wood lay the slaughtered skirmishers of Birge's bri- 
gade, mingled with the dead and severely wounded of the 
rebels, who also dotted the fields beyond. I noticed that 
most of our slain here had been stripped of their clothing, 
probably to cover the backs of Early's ragged soldiers. 
Colonel Thomas observed one of our ofiicers propped 
against a tree with a wounded rebel on each side of him. 

" * Courage, my friend,' said he. ' We will take care 
of you soon ; but first we want to finish the enemy.' 

" The sufferer waved his hand feebly, and answered 
in a low voice, ' Colonel, you are doing it gloriously.' 

" Thomas started, for he now recognized in this mor- 
tally wounded man his old companion in arms, the brave 
Lieutenant-Colonel Babcock, of the Seventy-fifth New 
York, formerly of our brigade. 

'' ' Don't trouble yourself about me now,' said Bab- 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN 243 

cock. ' But Avlien you have done your fighting, will you 
spare me a couple of men lo carry me away ? * 

'• Thomas promised, and followed his regiment. Col- 
onel Babcock's watch and money had been taken by a 
rebel officer, probably with the intention of preserving 
them for him ; but he had also been plundered in cruel 
earnest by the soldiers, who roughly dragged off his 
boots, although one of his thighs was shattered by a 
musket ball. 

"• The Eighth Corps now moved against the heights, 
where Early made his final stand. The Eighth Vermont 
and One Hundred and Sixtieth New York, in conjunction 
with Upton's men of the Sixth Corps, followed the troops 
who had been forced out of the wood, and, flanking them 
with a heavy enfilading fire, drove them successively from 
a rail-fence and a stone wall, where they attempted to 
rally. Lieutenant-Colonel Van Petten, of the One Hun- 
dred and Sixtieth, already had a bullet through the thigh, 
but refused to give up the command of his regiment until 
the fighting was over. As he led off at the head of it 
General Emory said to him, ' Colonel, you are going 
into a hot fire ; you had better dismount.' 

" ' Can't walk, sir,' rephed Van Petten, pointing to 
his bandaged thigh, and rode onward. 

" Our regiment halted in the grove, and waited for 
ammunition. Twice it wheeled into column of companies 
to give passage to Birge's and Molineux's Brigades of 



24:4 LLFE OF GENEEAL SHEEIDAN. 

Grover's Division, which were now pushed up as sup* 
ports to the general advance. I could not see that these 
commands bore any trace of the repulse of the morning ; 
the ranks moved steadily, and the air of the men was 
composed and resolute. It must be observed, however, 
that up to this time I did not know our line had suffered 
any disaster. They had just passed when a mounted of- 
ficer, followed by a single orderly, galloped up to us. As 
he reined in his horse a rebel shell, one of the many which 
were now tearing through the wood, burst within a few 
feet of him, actually seeming to crown his head with its 
deadly halo of smoke and humming fragments. 

" ' That's all right, boys,' he said, with a careless 
laugh. ' No matter ; we can lick them.* 

" The men laughed ; then a whisper ran along the 
ranks that it was Sheridan ; then they burst into a spon- 
taneous cheer. 

'^ ' What regiment is this?' he asked, and dashed off 
toward the firing. 

" Presently we advanced, in support of a battery of 
artillery, over high ground lately occupied by Early's 
centre. Our close fighting was over, and for the rest of 
the day we were spectators. At the distance of half a 
mile from us, too far away to distinguish the heroism of 
individuals, but near enough to observe all tlie grand 
movements and results, the last scene of the victorious 
irama was acted out. Crook's column carried the heights 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 245 

and tlie fort which crowned them. We could see the 
long, dark lines moving up the stony slopes ; we could 
see and hear the smoke and clatter of musketry on the 
deadly summit ; then we could hear our comrades' cheer 
of victory. Early's battle was rapidly reduced to a sim- 
ple struggle to save himself from utter rout. His mounted 
force had been beaten, as usual, by Averill, Torbert, and 
Custer. His infantry, dreadfully weakened by killed, 
wounded, prisoners, and. stragglers, was retreating in 
confusion, presenting no reliable line of resistance. And 
now, just in the nick of time, our cavalry formed its 
connection with the extreme right of our infantry, so that 
Sheridan was able to use it promptly to complete its vic- 
tory. I saw a brigade of these gallant troopers gallop in 
a long, straight line along the crest of the hill, rush upon 
Early's rear, and break up and sweep away his disorgan- 
ized regiments as easily, to all appearance, as a billow 
tosses its light burden of sea-weed. Seven hundred pris- 
oners and two guns were the results of this well-timed 
and brilliant onslaught. It was, I believe, the most ef- 
fective cavalry charge that has been delivered diu'ing the 
war ; and it was certainly one of the most spirit-stirring 
and magnificent spectacles conceivable." 

A smile of victory wreathed the lips of the gallant 
" Phil," for victory was secured. The infantry bivou- 
acked two miles from the gory field, toward which the 
eyes of conomanders and men turned sadly. Noble com- 



246 LIFE OF GENEEAL SHEKmAN. 

rades lay thickly strewn over the consecrated soih Hot» 
dearly are war's triumphs purchased ! How terrible is 
the arbitration of the sword ! Surely 

" Man's worst enemy is man." 
Away dashed the cavalry after the prisoners and mate- 
riel of the enemy, snatching sq^uads of Confederates and 
seizing arms and munitions of war along the way. The 
harvest of this kind from the field of strife and retreat 
was very great. Three thousand " Johnies " were cap- 
tured ; two thousand left on the field wounded and re- 
moved to Winchester ; five cannon, fifteen flags, and sev- 
eral thousand small arms were taken ; and so demoraliz- 
ing was the effect upon Early's troops, that further de- 
feat would be inevitable. The despatches from the valley 
of victories have peculiar interest. They are brief and 
forcible, and a single expression used by Sheridan, 
'' Whirling through Winchester," has often been quoted 
and will never be forgotten. 

"Winchester, Va., September 19, 7:30 p. m. 
*^ Lieutenant- General U. S. Grant: 

" I have the honor to report, that I attacked the forces 
of General Early, over the Berryville pike, at the crossing 
of Opequan Creek, and after a most stubborn and sangui- 
nary engagement, which lasted from early in the morn- 
ing until five o'clock in the evening, completely defeated 
him, driving him through Winchester, capturing about 
two thousand five hundred prisoners, five pieces of artil* 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEKTDAN. 247 

levy, nine army flags, and most of tlieir wounded. The 
rebel Generals Rhodes and Gordon were killed, and three 
other general officers were wounded. » Most of the enemy's 
wounded and all their killed fell into our hands. Our 
losses are severe. Among them is General D. A. Russell, 
commanding a division of the Sixth Corps, who was killed 
by a cannon ball. Generals Upton, Mcintosh ,"*and Chap- 
man were wounded. I cannot tell our losses. The con- 
duct of the officers and men Avas most superb. They 
charged and carried every position taken up by the rebels 
from Opequan Creek to Winchester. 

" The rebels were strong in numbers, and very ob- 
stinate in their fightinsr. I desire to mention to the 
Lieutenant-General commanding the army, the gallant 
conduct of Generals Wright, Crook, Emory, Torbert, and 
the officers and men under their command. To them the 
country is indebted for this handsome victory. A more 
detailed report will be forwarded. 

"P. H. Sheridan, Major-General Commanding. 

" Full details of casualties will be given when received 
by the Department. 

" Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War." 



" War Department, 
Washington, Tuesday, September 20- 



-12 M. \ 



Major-General Jolin A. Dix ; 
" The following despatch has just been received, giving 



248 LITE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

further particulars of Sheridan's great victory. A sakite 
of one hundred guns has just been given : 

" Harper's Ferry, Tuesday, September 20 — 11:40 a. m. 
* Hon. E. M. Stanton : 

" Just received the following official from General 
Sheridan, dated one A. m. to-day : 

" ' General : We fought Early from daylight till be- 
tween six and seven p. m. "We drove him from Opequan 
Creek through Winchester and beyond the town. We 
captured two thousand five hundred to three thousand 
prisoners, five pieces of artillery, nine battle flags, and 
all the rebel wounded and dead. 

" ' Their wounded in Winchester amount to some three 
thousand. We lost in killed General David A. Russell, 
commanding a division of the Sixth Army Corps, and 
wounded Generals Chapman, Mcintosh, and Upton. 
The rebels lost in killed the following general ofiicers ; 
General Rhodes, General Wharton, General Gordon, and 
General Ramseur. 

" ' We have just sent them whirling through Win- 
chester, and we are after them to-morrow. This army 
behaved splendidly. I am sending forward all the medi- 
cal supplies, subsistence stores, and ambulances.' 

" (Signed) Jno. D. Stevenson, Brigadier-Gen. 
Edwin M. Stanton, Sec'y of War." 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAIT. 249 

\ 



" War Department, 
Washington, Monday, September 20 — 8 p. m. 



** To Major- General Dix, New TorJc : 

*' The following is the latest intelligence received from 
General Sheridan : 

" ' Harper's Ferry, Ya., Monday, September 20 — 7 p. m. 
** * lion. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War : 

" ' The body of General Russell has arrived. As soon 
as it is embalmed it will be forwarded to New York, 
General Mcintosh, with his leg amputated, has just come 
in, and is in good spirits. Several officers from the front 
report the number of prisoners in excess of three thousand. 
The number of battle-flags captured was fifteen, instead 
of nine. 

" ' All concur that it was a complete rout. Our cavalry 
started in pursuit at daylight this morning. Sheridan, 
when last heard from, was at Kearnstown. I sent for- 
ward this morning ample medical supplies. Full subsist- 
ence for the entire army goes forward. If you do not 
hear from me often, it will be because of the distance we 
are from the scene of action, and because I only send you 
such information as I esteem reliable. 

" ' John B. Richakdson, Brigadier-General.* 

"The President has appointed General Sheridan a 
Brigadier in the Regular Army, and assigned him to the 
permanent command of the Middle Military Division. 
General Grant has ordered the army under his command 



2r)0 IJFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

to fire a salute of one hundred guns at seven o'clock to- 
morrow morning in honor of Sheridan's great victory. 

" A despatch just received from General Sherman, at 
Atlanta, says : ' Every thing continues well with us.' 

^' The reports of to-day show that the draft is proceed- 
ing quietly in all the States. In most of the districts 
vigorous efforts are continued to fill the quota by volun- 
teers before the drafted men are mustered in. 

" Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War." 

The enemy whirled on till the defences were reached 
at Fisher's Hill. The slaughter of our men was fearful. 
In the Nineteenth corps, nineteen hundred and forty were 
killed and wounded. 

The news of the success of the long anticipated 
collision of Lee's veterans under Early, with the forces 
of General Sheridan, in the valley of the Shenandoah, 
thrilled the popular heart with gladness ; pointing, as it 
did, to Richmond, where Gi*ant was waiting for the hour 
to strike, when the finishing blow upon the staggering re- 
bellion could be given by his patient but unerring hand. 

A Connecticut cavalry soldier who rode with Sheri- 
dan, says that he was present when four regiments were 
ordered to Winchester in charge of sixteen hundred pris- 
oners. The rebel cavalry harassed the guards on their 
march, and finally recaptured one hundred men. " But 
we got into Winchester,'' said the cavalryman, gleefully, 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 251 

" with seventeen hundred prisoners — one hundred more 
than we started with." During the march, one of the 
prisoners asked " if Sheridan's men rode night and day?" 
" Oh, no ! " was the reply ; "we get our regular sleep." 
" Humph ! we don't," said the rebel. 

It is related of General Sheridan, that when the en- 
gagement hegan he stood off a little to the rear, as Grant 
would have done, and endeavored to calmly survey the 
field and direct the battle. But it was not in his nature 
to remain passive for a great while. When the fight 
warmed up and became general he could stand it no 
longer, and, drawing his sword, he exclaimed, " I 
can't stand this ! " and rode into the heat of the en- 
gagement. 

The scene before and that after the battle, as de- 
scribed to me by a chaplain who was there, were both 
highly animating. The movement of the legions under 
their enthusiastic commander, the immense body of cav- 
ahy going forth to meet the enemy, presented a spec- 
tacle rarely beheld. It was hours before the cavalcade, 
with some unavoidable delay, passed along a given point 
of observation. And then after the " red field was won," 
and General Sheridan walked leisurely between his head- 
(juarters and the semicircle of trophies, the batteries, 
with broken carriages, the small arms, and the dilapidated 
prisoaers of war, it was a sight — especially w^hen night 
cume down with its darkness and the many lights of 



252 LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

camp-fires — which has been presented only once on th-^ 
plains of this Republic. 

The gallant chief enjoyed the scene. The Stars and 
Stripes never looked so glorious before ; for the light of 
conquest gilded the folds, and a new assurance was 
given of their speedy triumph over the dismal banner 
of treason. ^ 




CHAPTER Xn. 

A Prompt Pursuit— A Bold Front— Skilful Tactics— The Attack on Early'i P* 
sition — The line Breaks — The Flight — The spoils of Victory — Cavalry Move- 
ments — Destruction of Property — The Enemy on the Hear — Battle again, 
and Victory — Further Devastation. 

;,ITH brief pause, and with characteristic rapid- 
ity of action, always seizing the favoring turn 
of the tide, he pressed with his entire force 
upon the rebel position. But the front was im- 
pregnable — at least too defiant for the venture 
of success on an attack there alone. So the old Eighth — 
General Crook's corps — was again to turn the position of 
the foe. And while the apparent assault was entirely be- 
fore the works, he swept round by a long detour to the 
right, and finely flanked the rebels, falling with unrivalled 
gallantry upon their rear. They were compelled to leave 
the intrenchments. While General Emory, leading the 
Nineteenth Corps, struck the left heavy blows, the Sixth 
fell upon the centre and front, and AverilFs cavalry dashed 
along tlie base of South Mountain. This bewildering 



254: LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEEDAN. 

mode of assault, demanding attention to several points at 
the instant, told tremendously upon the determined re- 
sistance, soon breaking the ranks at the centre, and sep- 
arating thus the wings. Nothing was left the foe but 
flight ; ana such a " stampede " as that toward Wood- 
stock has seldom been witnessed on the ensanguined 
plain. All the ruins of war were in the wake of the 
flying traitors. Abandoned cannon, driverless horses, 
wagons, small arms, knapsacks, canteens, and clothing 
even, were scattered over the miles of retreat ; a melan- 
choly, and yet strangely true, welcome sight to our ex- 
ulting " boys," who had borne the riddled flag of freedom 
in the smoke of its hottest battles. 

The rejoicing General telegraphed his success to his 
Lieutenant- General, who, with equal pride and joy, read 
the message the lightning brought : 

*' Headquarters Middle Military Division, Six Miles prom ) 
Woodstock, 11:30 p. m., Sept. 22, 1864. \ 

*' Lieut.- Gen. Grant, Comrrib d^ Armies of tTie W. S., City Point : 

" I have the honor to announce that I achieved a signal 
victory over the army of General Early, at Fisher's Hill, 
to-day. I found the rebel army posted with its right rest- 
ing on the north fork of the Shenandoah, and extending 
across the Strasburg valley westward to North Moun- 
tain, occupying a position which appeared almost impreg- 
nable. After a great deal of manoeuvring during the day. 
General Crook's command was transferred to the extreme 



UFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 255 

right of the Hue on North Mountain, and he furiously at- 
tacked the left of the enemy's line, carrying every thing 
before him. While Crook was driving the enemy in the 
greatest confusion, and sweeping down behind their breast- 
works, the Sixth and Nineteenth Army Corps attacked the 
rebel works in front, and the whole army appeared to be 
broken up. They fled in the utmost confusion. Sixteen 
pieces of artillery were captured ; also a great many 
caissons, artillery horses, &c., &c. 

" I am, to-night, pushing down the valley. I cannot 
say how many prisoners I have captured, nor do I know 
either my own or the enemy's casualties. Only darkness 
has saved the whole of Early's army from total destruction. 

" My attack could not be made till four o'clock in the 
evening, which left but little daylight to operate in. 

" The First and Third cavalry divisions went down 
the Luray valley to-day, and if they push on vigorously 
to the main valley the result of this day's engagement 
will be still more signal. The victory was very com- 
plete. A more detailed report will be made as soon as I 
can obtain the necessary data. 

"P. H. Sheridan, Maj.-Gen'l Commanding. 

" It will be remembered that Early's command em- 
braced the ' Stonewall Brigade ' and the troops constitut- 
ing ' Stonewall ' Jackson's corps, and was the elite of the 
rebel army. 

•' Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War." 



256 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 

The chase was kept up till the 25th, driving the 
astonished Early below Port Republic, a village in Rock- 
ingham County, Va., one hundred and forty miles from 
Washington. General Sheridan telegraphed the good 
news to General Grant : 

" Harrisonburg, Va., Sept. 29, 1864— '7:30 p. m. 
" Lieutenant- General U. S. Grant, City Point : 

" I informed you that I pressed Early so closely 
through New Market, at the same time sending cavalry 
around his flank, that he gave up the valley and took to 
the mountains, passing through Brown's Gap. I kept up 
the pursuit to Port Republic, destroying seventy-five 
wagons and four caissons. I sent General Torbert, who 
overtook me at Harrisonburg, to Staunton, with Wilson's 
division of cavalry and one brigade of Merritt's. Tor- 
bert entered Staunton on the 26th, and destroyed a large 
quantity of rebel Government property, harness, saddles, 
small arms, hard bread, flour, repair shops, etc. 

^' He then proceeded to Wayne^oro, destroying the 
iron bridge over the south branch of the Shenandoah, 
seven miles of the track, the depot buildings, a Govern- 
ment tannery, and a large amount of leather, flour, etc., 
at that place. He found the tunnel defended by infantry, 
and retired via Staunton. 

"It is my impression that most of the troops which 
Early had left passed through the mountains to Char- 
lottesville ; that Kershaw's division came to his assist- 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 257 

ance, and, I thiak, passed along the west base of the 
mountains to Waynesboro. 

" I am getting twenty-five to forty prisoners daily, 
who come from the mountains on each side and deliver 
themselves up. 

" From the most reliable accounts Early's army was 
completely broken up, and is dispirited. 

" Kershaw had not reached Richmond, but was some- 
where in the vicinity of Gordonsville, when he received 
orders to rejoin Early. The destruction of the grain and 
forage from here to Staunton will be a terrible blow to 
them. All the grain, forage, etc., in the vicinity of Staun- 
ton, was retained for the use of Early's army. All in 
the lower part of the valley was shipped to Richmond 
for the use of Lee's army. 

" The country from here to Staunton was abundaiitiy 
supplied with forage, grain, etc. 

" P. H. Sheridan, Major-General.*' 

The fruits of the pm-suit were eleven hundred prison- 
ers, sixteen pieces of artillery, besides the smaller arms, 
etc. From the 19th to the 25th of September, the entire 
loss to the enemy in killed, wounded, captured, and miss- 
ing, was not less than ten thousand. Numbers of the 
Confederates were wanderers in the mountain sides, sick 
of the contest, and resolved to keep out of it. 

The news of the grand achievement was like the 
17 



258 LIFE OF GENEEAL SHEEIDAJSr. 

tidings of Vicksburg's fall to the country — ^it was so 
decisive and damaging to the cause of treason ; the com- 
pletion of a work nobly begun at Winchester. The 
people gave a glad response, with salutes from almost every 
piece of ordnance in the loyal North, making Sept. 26th 
one of the memorable days of rejoicing, amid the fluctu- 
ating fortunes of the four years' war. The Government 
congratulated the gallant General and his army, the 
President adding the substantial compliment of a briga- 
dier's appointment in the regular army, to fill the vacancy 
made by the death of the brave McPherson, universally 
lamented for his martial genius and his virtues. 

From Port Republic General Sheridan sent General 
Torbert with the cavalry on to Staunton, the shire-town 
of Augusta County, Virginia, situated on Lewis Creek, 
one of the head branches of the Shenandoah, an ancient 
and beautiful town, one hundred and fifty-six miles from 
Washington. The Court House and Lunatic Asylum 
were elegant buildings. Large stores of rebel military 
material were there. 

The troopers moved down upon the place with resist- 
less swoop, capturing the whole, and leaving the store- 
houses, machine-shops, munitions of war, and provisions, 
only heaps of smouldering ruins. Then onward they 
dashed to Waynesboro, in the same county, about a dozen 
miles distant, at the west foot of Blue Ridge and on South 
River. The Virginia Central Raih'oad passes through 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 250 

these towns, Waynesboro lying easterly of tlie county 
seat. The cavalry tore up the ii'on track, burned the 
depot, the iron bridge over the Shenandoah, a large gov- 
ernment tannery, and much property besides, useful in 
rebel warfare. Nor was this all. In the rich valleys 
among the head-waters of the Shenandoah, whose chan- 
nel is cut through a region of great fruitfulness, there was 
an abundance of grain and hay and other products of the 
soil. To these the torch was also applied, until the smoke 
of devastation fairly curtained the raiders' way, illumined 
with the fires beneath. It seems sad, indeed, to ravage 
God's garden of manifold fruitfuL ess ; but war is waste, 
and to weaken both Early and Lee by such ruin, was 
better, surely, than the destruction of living men with 
sword and bullet, and therefore desirable, just so far 
as it diminished the harvest of death on the fields of 
carnage. 

General Sheridan, leaving a vast desert behind them, 
in which the Confederate army could not live, cleared out 
the guerriUa bands which had been harbored by the dis- 
loyal inhabitants, and commenced his northward march. 
October 6th he reached Woodstock, the capital of Shenan- 
doah County, situated on the west side of the north fork 
of the river, about one hundred miles from Washington. 

The following despatch gives the conqueror's story of , 
success, and of vengeance upon lawless foes : 



260 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 

" Woodstock, Va., Oct. 7, 1864 — 9 p. m. 
*^ Lieutenant- General U. S. Grant ; 

" I have the honor to report my commaDd at this point 
to-night. I commenced moving back from Port Kepub- 
lic, Mount Crawford, Bridgewater, and Harrisonburg, 
yesterday morning. The grain and forage in advance of 
these points had previously been destroyed. 

" In moving back to this point the whole country 
from the Blue Ridge to the North Mountain has been 
made entirely untenable for a rebel army. I have de- 
stroyed over two thousand barns filled with wheat and 
hay and farming implements, over seventy mills filled with 
flour and wheat ; have driven in front of the army over 
four thousand head of stock, and have killed and issued 
to the troops not less than three thousand sheep. This 
destruction embraces the Luray valley and Little Fort 
valley, as well as the main valley. 

" A large number of horses have been obtained, a 
proper estimate of which I cannot now make. 

" Lieutenant John R. Meigs, my engineer officer, was 
murdered beyond Harrisonburg, near Dayton. For this 
atrocious act all the houses within an area of five miles 
were burned. 

" Since I came into the valley from Harper's Ferry, 
every train, every small party, and every straggler, has 
been bushwacked by the people, many of whom have pro- 
tcction-nasses fl*om commanders who have been hitherto 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 261 

in tliat valley. The people here are getting sick of the 
war. Heretofore they have had no reason to complain, 
because they have been living in great abundance. 

" I have not been followed by the enemy to this point, 
with the exception of a small force of the rebel cavalry 
that showed themselves some distance behind my rear- 
guard to-day. 

" A party of one hundred of the Eighth Ohio cavalry, 
which I had stationed at the bridge over the North She- 
nandoah, near Mount Jackson, was attacked by McNeil 
with seventeen men while they were asleep, and the whole 
party dispersed or captured. I think they will all turn 
up. I learn that fifty-six of them had reached Winches- 
ter. McNeil was mortally wounded, and fell into our 
hands. This was fortunate, as he was the most darin"- 
and dangerous of all the bushwackers in this section of 
the country. 

"P. H. Sheridan, Major-General." 

The animus of the rebels, whose threats providentially 
recoiled on their own heads, is seen in the words of the 
Eichmond Whig of October 15th : 

" Sheridan reports to Grant, that in moving down the 
valley to Woodstock, he has burned over two thousand 
barns filled with wheat, hay, and farming implements, 
and over seventy mills filled with flour and wheat. This 
<vas done by order of Grant himself, commander of all the 



282 LIFE OF GENEEAL SHEEIDAN. 

Yankee armies. It is only the execution of part of the 
order to destroy every thing in the valley that will sustain 
life. The fell work is still going on. Now, it is an idle 
waste of words to denounce this sort of war. We have 
simply to regard it as a practical matter, and ask our- 
selves how it is to be met. There is one effectual way, 
and only one we know of, to arrest and prevent this and 
every other sort of atrocity — and that is to burn one of 
the chief cities of the enemy, say Boston, Philadelphia, or 
Cincinnati, and let its fate hang over the other as a warn- 
ing of what may be done, and will be done to them if the 
present system of war on the part of the enemy is con- 
tinued. If we are asked how such a thing can be done, 
we answer, nothing would be easier. A million of dol- 
lars would lay the proudest city of the enemy in ashes. 
The men to execute the work are already there. There 
would be no difficulty in finding there, here, or in Canada, 
suitable persons to take charge of the enterprise and ar- 
range its details. Twenty men, with plans all precon- 
certed and means provided, selecting some dry, windy 
night, might fire Boston in a hundred places and wrap it 
in flames from centre to suburb. They might retaliate 
on Richmond, Charleston, etc. Let them do so if they 
dare. It is a game at which we can beat them. New 
York is worth twenty Richmond s. They have a dozen 
towns to our one, and in their towns is centered nearly 
all their wealth. It would not be immoral and barbarous 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 263 

It is not immoral or barbarous to defend yourself by any 
means, or with any weapon the enemy may employ for 
your destruction. They choose to substitute the torch 
for the sword. We may so use their own weapon as to 
make them repent, literally in sackcloth and ashes, that 
they ever adopted it. If the executive is not ready for 
this, we commend the matter to the secret deliberation of 
the Congress about to meet." 

From his headquarters, General Sheridan could look 
toward the South, and see, in imagination, the flames 
of more than two thousand barns bursting with grass 
and grain, and over seventy mills filled with wheat and 
flour, which had been kindled by his horsemen, and 
consuming the precious and immense stores and forage. 
A drove of many hundred cattle, and a flock of three 
thousand sheep, had been taken for the wants of his 
own army. General Sheridan, fresh and youthful in ap- 
pearance, always dressed in the best style of official 
uniform, leading his columns laden with booty, and 
driving an army of Virginia stock from the blackened 
plains, while the negroes, hailing the invaders when 
permitted to do so, swelled the caravan. Such scenes 
the Old Dominion never witnessed before, and in her 
pride of position and historical importance had no' anti- 
cipated, even when she accepted the banner of treason. 

Two days after General Sheridan reached Woodstock, 
Major-General Rosser, who had just received his laurel 



264 LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

of promotion, began to show a strong desire to establish 
his right to it, by making a display of valor upon the rear 
of the Union army. He therefore crowded up, annoying 
Sheridan till he would no longer bear the rebel attempt 
to win distinction at his expense, and turned to offer bat- 
tle. The bold front cooled the commander's ardor at once. 
Soon as General Sheridan found his ambitious antagonist 
afraid to fight him, he determined to make the attack. 
Accordingly, October 9th, at daylight, the cavalry charged 
upon the enemy in front, moving along the Strasburg 
pike, and at the same* time a division swept around to the 
rear, and struck him on the flank, routing the crestfallen 
Rosser after a brief struggle, and capturing eleven pieces 
of artillery, caissons, a battery-forge, nearly fifty wagons, 
and three hundred prisoners. Away the rebel troopers 
hurried in alarm with Sheridan's men afler them, pursued, 
as he had it, " on the jump," for twenty-six miles. The 
chase was kept up till the fugitives were beyond Mount 
Jackson, across a fork of the Shenandoah. 

General Sheridan's report informs how and why he 
disposed of Rosser : 

"Strasburg, Va,, Midnight, October 9. 
** To Lieutenant- General Grant, City Point : 

'' In coming back to this point, I was not followed up 
until late yesterday, when a large force of cavalry ap- 
peared in my rear. I then halted my command to offei 



LITE OF GENEKAL SHERIDAN. 265 

battle by attacking the enemy. I became satisfied that it 
was only all the rebel cavalry of the valley, commanded 
by Rosser, and directed Torbert to attack at daylight this 
morning, and finish this ' saviour of the valley.' The at- 
tack was handsomely made. Custar, commanding the 
Third Cavalry Division, charged on the back road, and 
Merritt, commanding the First Cavalry Division, on the 
Strasburg pike. Merritt captured five pieces of artillery. 
Custar captured six pieces of artillery with caissons, bat- 
tery forge, etc. The two divisions captured forty-seven 
wagons, ambulances, etc. Among the wagons captured 
are the headquarters wagons of Rosser, Lomax, Wick- 
man, and Colonel Pollard. The number of prisoners will 
be about three hundred and thirty. 

" The enemy after being charged by our gallant cav- 
alry were broken and ran. They were followed by our 
men on the jump twenty-six miles through Mount Jack- 
son and across the north fork of the Shenandoah. I deem 
it best to make this delay of one day here and settle this 
new cavalry general. 

" The eleven pieces of artillery captured to-day /nake 

<hu'ty-six pieces captured in the Shenandoah valley since 

the 19 th of September. Some of the artillery was new, 

and never had been fired. The pieces were marked 

Tredegar Works.' 

"P. H. Sheridan, Major-General." 

General Sheridan did settle him effectually. 



26^ LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 

The subjoined congratulations to the cavalry followed 
in the wake of victory : 



a 



"Headquarters Cavalry Corps, 
Middle Military Division, October 11, 1864. 

" General Orders No. 13. — The Chief of Cavalry de- 
sires to congratulate the officers and men of the cavalry 
of the Middle Military Division for their unparalleled 
successes since the beginning of the campaign in the val- 
ley of the Shenandoah. 

" You have been ealled upon to endure many privations 
and hardships, and they have been borne with that heroic 
fortitude so necessary to insure to you the victories which 
have crowned your efforts. 

" In the battle of the 19th of September you not only 
routed the enemy's cavalry, but gallantly charged their 
infantry, broke their lines, and captured many hundred 
prisoners, nine colors, and three guns. This success, fol- 
lowed by fatiguing marches and harassing skirmishes and 
reconnoissances with an ever vigilant foe, and crowned by 
your unprecedented achievements on the 9th of October, 
when, having broken the entire body of their cavahy,you 
chased their routed columns over twenty miles, capturing 
eleven pieces of artillery, two colors, many prisoners, and 
their entire train, is a record which, by the blessing of 
God, has contributed much to the renown of our arms 
and the success of our cause. 

" By command of Brevet Major-General Torbert." 



LITE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 267 

"Headquarters Middle Military Division, October 14, 1864. 
"The following has been received, and is published for 
the information of the army : 

"'War Department, Washington, October 12, 8 p.m. 
" * Major- General Sheridan : 

" The Department tenders its thanks to you, and through 
you to Major-General Torbert, Generals Merritt and Cus- 
tar, and the officers and soldiers under their command, 
for the brilliant victories on last Sunday by their gallantrjt 
over the rebel cavalry in the Shenandoah valley. Under 
gallant leaders your cavalry has become the efficient arm 
in this country that it has proved in other countries, and 
is winning by its exploits the admiration of the country 
a'ad Government. 

" ' Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War. 

" ' By command of Major-General Sheridan.' 

" Headquarters Cavalry Middle Division, October 14, 1864. 
" This despatch will be read at once at the head of every 
regiment in this command. By command of 

" Major-General Torbert." 

General Early, doubly stung by his own defeat and 
the punishment of his cavalry commander, resolved to try 
his reenforced battalions against Sheridan once more. 
October 12th, under the protecting shadow of Little North 
Mountain, the wily rebel chief marched along the slopes, 



208 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 

and fell upon the Union army lying a few miles froin 
Fisher's Hill. General Sheridan had watched his foe, 
and was not unprepared for his coming. The fire of the 
cavalry was promptly returned, and soon the conflict be- 
came general. 

For three long hours it raged. The boastful Early 
was desperate — the howling " Johnnies " beat vainly 
against the unbroken front of freedom's battle. Many 
brave fellows went down under the iron hoofs to rise no 
more. And now the bugles sounded the cavalry charge. 
How grandly the numberless steeds hurled their riders 
upon the ranks of treason ! The steel gleamed in the 
air, and the wild shout went up over the resistless regi- 
ments, " They fly ! " Those words were music to the 
ears of the hero who won the field, because he knew how 
to lead men that knew how to fight. 

General Sheridan thought his adversary was so 
badly beaten, that for awhile he would desire to be 
let alone. He therefore seized the moment to visit 
and personally inspect his field of operations, and per- 
fect arrangements for further cooperation with General 
Grant. Meanwhile, more thoroughly to devastate Luray 
valley, from Front Royal to Sperryville, he sent a cavalry 
force there, especially to chastise the people for assist- 
ance and shelter given by them to the bandits roaming 
there — the " bushwhackers " and guerrillas whose bullets 
had picked off our unoffending workmen along the track 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 269 

of the Manassas Gap Railroad, wbicli Sheridan was re- 
pairing. 

In tliat quiet valley were captured six thousand five 
hundred head of cattle and five hundred horses ; thirty- 
two extensive flouring mills, thirty distilleries, fifty barns, 
and several furnaces were burned. 

The railroad from Front Royal opened a more con- 
venient thoroughfare to Washington, for the passage of 
troops and supplies, than the route by Harper's Ferry. 
It was in running order October 15th, and over it General 
Sheridan made a flying visit to the Capital. 

The army was lying a few miles from Fisher's Hill, 
right under the shadow of the bold Massanutten Mountain. 
From the bloody field of Strasburg to this position it was 
only a two hours' infantry march. From Massanutten 
Mountain the whole region could be seen— «, landscape 
forever memorable in history on account of the conflicts 
and victories there between the second and seventh week 
of the autumn of 1864. 




CHAPTER Xin. 

rhe Position of the Armies — The Plot — The Battle and partial sncceas of tk* 
Enemy — The Keturn of the Dauntless Chief— The Eally and the Victory. 

>ENERAL EARLY knew of the absence of his 
dreaded enemy, and resolved to spring upon his 
columns without their mighty leader. Screened 
by the dense forest of Fisher's Hill, to which he 
fell back after the affair of the 12th, and where 
he was intrenched, the onslaught was planned, and a 
reenforcement of twelve thousand troops added to their 
forces, swelling the army to twenty-seven thousand men. 
Not quite half a dozen miles distant were our troops. 
Their position was an echelon of three lines — that is 
to say, in terraces formed by three separate hill-crests. 
An army in echelon is ranged in the form of steps, one 
division behind the other. Says Captain De Forest, who 
was there : 

" The left and most advanced crest was held by the 
Army of Western Virginia ; the central one, half a mile 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAlSr. 271 

to the rear of the first, by the Nineteenth Corps ; the right 
and rearmost by the Sixth Corps. Crook commanded 
the first step of the echelon.^ Emory the second, Wright 
the third. Behind Crook's left, and at right angles to it, 
guarding against a turning movement from that quarter, 
lay a force about equivalent to a brigade, known as Kitch- 
ing's Provisional Division. The fronts, and to some ex- 
tent the fianks, of the Army of Western Virginia and of 
the Nineteenth Corps were strengthened by breastworks 
of logs and earth, with batteries in position. Between 
these two commands ran the Strasburg and Winchester 
pike, the great highway of this part of the valley. The 
entire echelon occupied by the infantry and artillery was 
at least three miles in length, in addition to which the 
rolling country on the right of the Sixth Corps was occu- 
pied by Torbert's superb calvary. In front the position 
was impregnable except by a surprise, and to turn it was 
an enterprise so dangerous that it w^as hardly dreaded. 

" Before midnight Early's entire army was in motion. 
His cavalry and light artillery had orders to advance 
upon our right so as to occupy the attention of Torbert 
and of the Sixth Corps. His infantry marched in five 
columns, of which Gordon's, Ramseur's, and Pegram's 
were to place themselves by daybreak on the left-rear of 
tlie whole Union position, while Kershaw's and Whar- 
ton's should at the same hour be close under the in- 
trenched crest held by the Army of AVestern Virginia. 



^<'/'2 LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

To turu our left it was necessary to descend into the 
gorge at the base of* the Massanutten Mountain, ford the 
north fork of the Shenandoah, and skirt Crook's position 
for miles, passing in some places within four hundred 
yards of his pickets. Three days previous the movement 
would have been impossible, as a brigade of our cavalry 
then held the road along which the rebels now filed with- 
out opposition. As it was, Early's enterprise was haz- 
ardous almost beyond parallel. Had we caught him in 
the midst of it we should have ruined him : our infantry 
would have cut his in two, while our cavalry would have 
prevented retreat to Fisher's Hill ; he would have lost 
half his army, and we should not have lost a thousand 
men. But the management of the advance was admira- 
ble : the canteens had been left in camp lest they should 
clatter against the shanks of the bayonets ; the men con- 
ducted themselves with the usual intellio-ence of the 
American soldier, whether Northern or Southern ; and 
this fearfully perilous night march under the nose of a 
powerful enemy was accomplished with a success little 
less than mii-aculous. There was a moment, indeed, 
when the audacious column trod on the brink of destruc- 
tion. About two o'clock in the morning the pickets of 
the Fifth New York heavy artillery, serving as infantry 
in Kitching's Division, heard a rustling of underbrush and 
a muffled, multitudinous trampling. Two posts were 
relieved and sent into camp with the information. Gen- 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 273 

eral Crook ordered liis command to be upon the alert 
and most of the front line went into the trenches. Bu 
there was not a private in the army, and hardly an officer 
who believed that the often-beaten and badlv-beaten 

ft/ 

Early would venture an attack. No reconnoissance was 
sent out to see if the alarm were well-founded ; the gaps 
in the front line caused by the detachment of regiments 
on picket were not filled up from the reserve ; and when 
the assault took place it found many muskets unloaded. 
An hour before daybreak the rebel infantry, shivering 
with cold, but formed and ready for battle, lay within 
six hundred yards of Union camps, which were either 
sleeping or only half awake with suspicion. On the ex- 
treme right was Gordon, diagonally in rear of the Nine- 
teenth Corps ; on the left of Crook, facing Kitching's 
provisional division, was Ilamseur supported by Pegram ; 
in front of Crook was Kershaw supported by Wharton. 
There is even an incredible story that Kershaw's men 
regularly relieved a portion of the pickets of the Army 
of Western Virginia. 

" The ' awful rose of dawn,' softened and sombred in 
color by thick morning mist, had just faintly blossomed 
over a low eastern crest, and dark lines of infantry 
were dimly visible in the gray light, when, far away on 
our left, a terrific rattle of musketry burst forth with 
amazing suddenness, followed by scream on scream of 
the well-known rebel battle-yell, the savage clamor reveal- 
18 



274 LIFE OF GENEEAL SHEEIDAI^. 

ing to US in an instant tliat Early, in great force, had 
assaulted Crook's position. Grover listened to the ap- 
palling outburst of battle without even a gesture of sur- 
prise, and said to an aid in his usual tranquil tone, ' Tell 
the brigade commanders to move their men into the 
trenches/ 

" I galloped back to corps headquarters to inform 
General Emory of what he knew as well as I. 

" ' Go and report to the General commanding,* he 
replied, ' that the enemy have attacked Crook's left in 
force/ 

" As I rode away I heard him remark, ' I said so. 
I knew that if we were attacked it would be there.* 

" I must be permitted here to do justice to the pre- 
vision of my corps commander. Two days previous to 
this he had visited Crook's position, and had asserted that 
it did not command the valley in its front, and that we 
could be turned from that quarter. ' They can march 
thirty thousand men through there,' he said, ' and we 
not know it till we have them on our flank.' 

" I found General Wright, surrounded by his staif, 
preparing to mount. 

" ' Have you any knowledge how the assault has suc- 
ceeded?' he asked, when I had delivered my message. 

" * None. I ^an only guess. I suppose it has failed. 
I infer it from the sudden cessation of the firing and 
yelling.* 



LIFE OF GENEEAL SHEKroAN. 275 

This was indeed a bad '* guess." In the dense fofr, 
Kershaw's eohimn rushed upon the pickets of General 
Crook, without stopping to reply to their musketry, and 
gathered them up, while the troops in the trenches could 
not see the condition of affairs, and either threw away 
their fire because the foe was upon them, or were found 
with unloaded rifles. Then came the beating of the liv- 
ing tide against the breastworks ; a few minutes it paused, 
and through the undefended rents the living streams 
poured in hideous exultation. The Union boys fell on 
the right hand and the left ; and then came the panic, and 
flight of the unfallen ranks ! Scarcely fifteen minutes 
had elapsed since the onset, and the army of Western 
Virginia, so lately covered with the glory of great suc- 
cesses, went surging back toward the position of the 
Nineteenth Corps. Whatever of valor there may have 
been in portions of the field after the break, the rebel ad- 
vance was unchecked in fact ; the surprise and defeat was 
complete. " No daybreak rush of moccasoned savages 
was ever more silently, rapidly, and dexterously executed 
than this charge of Kershaw." 

An entire battalion of the Fifth New York heavy 
artillery was caught up on the picket line, with 
only a hundred killed and wounded, but seven hundred 
taken prisoners. The Nineteenth Corps was left to fight 
alone for a disorganized army, while the Sixth Corps was 
before the advancing cavalry and light artillery, with how 



276 LIFE OF GENEKAL SHERIDAIT. 

large an infantry force behind no one knew. Continues 
Captain De Forest : 

" When I reached our headquarters on my return 
from General Wright's, I was amazed by hearing on our 
left-rear a lively rattle of picket musketry. I thought of 
riding up to the misty crest, a quarter of a mile distant, 
which stopped the view in that direction ; but no heavy 
firing ensued, and I concluded that it was only a trifling 
affair between our outposts and some scouting party of 
cavalry. Had I put my first thought into execution, I 
should have seen Gordon's column, solidly massed, com- 
ing swiftly up the slope, disdaining to reply to the pick- 
ets, and driving them with the mere weight of its ad- 
vance. Here, as everywhere throughout the battle, the 
enemy knew our ground perfectly, and in consequence 
moved over it without wasting their time in reconnoitring 
or their troops in skirmishing. It was this amazing 
rapidity of manoeuvre, this audacity which could not be 
foreseen nor guarded against, that beat us. To fight 
with any chance of success we must change our whole 
front ; and yet we did not know it, nor had we the time 
to effect it. The position which Gordon was now on the 
point of seizing was a broad, bare hill, of which the south- 
western declivity sloped gently toward the camp of the 
Nineteenth Corps, and commanded it. From the mo- 
ment that he held it we were sure to go ; ten thousand 
men there would easily drive out fifteen thonsand here ; 



LIFE OF GENERAI. SHERIDAN. 277 

all the more easily, of course, if they could take them, as 
we were taken, in reverse. The rebel force on this side, 
including the how not distant divisions of Ramseur and 
Pegram, was as strong as Emory's, and it was support- 
ed by another column, almost as numerous, coming up 
through the woods on our left and along the pike in out 
front. The Nineteenth Corps was not only attacked in 
rear, but it was outnumbered. It might hold on for an 
hour ; and so it did hold on for a hopeless, sanguinary 
hour, but that was all that mortals could do. 

" General Emory had already been joined by Generals 
Wright and Crook when I found him near the breast- 
works. He knew consequently that a great disaster had 
happened, but he said nothing of it in my hearing, and I 
was far from guessing it. I saw, indeed, a ceaseless flaw 
of stragglers pouring out of the wood on our left, and 
passing us toward the rear ; but I supposed that they 
were the cooks, etc., of Crook's command, getting out 
of the range of fire, according to the prudent custom of 
non-combatants. It seems that McMillan's Brigade had 
already been pushed out in that direction to arrest the 
progress of the enemy, and to enable the West Virginian 
army to rally. Fearing that this brigade had broken, 
General Emory sent me to find out who the stragglers 
were. As I approached the wood the stream of fugi- 
lives increased in volume until it was like a division in 
column of march, except that there were no files, no 



278 LITE OF GENEEAL SHEEmAN. 

ranks, no organization. They were not breathless, not 
running, but they were going to the rear in utter con- 
fusion, 

" ' To the Eighth Corps,' ' To the Eighth Corps, 
man after man responded when I asked what command 
they belonged to. 

" ' Captain, what does this mean ! ' I said to the first 
officer whom I met. 

" ' Why, I suppose it means that we are retreating,' 
he replied, with a bitter smile. 

" ' What ! has Crook been driven from his posi- 
tion?' I exclaimed, realizing at last the all but incred- 
ible calamity. 

" ' His men haYe/ he said, with the same hopeless 
smile, glancing around at the horde of retreating sol- 
diers. 

" In going back to the General I rode along the line 
of McMillan's Brigade, and warned such regimental com- 
manders as I could see that their fiery trial was at hand. 
I had scarcely left it when another aide came up with 
orders for it to advance, and, breasting the current of 
fugitives, it pushed into the tangled wood which was 
soon to be its slaughter-pen. About the same time Gen- 
eral Emory ordered two other brigades across the pike, 
with instructions to face toward the crest on which Gor- 
don was beginning to show himself. The remaining 
three brigades of the corps continued at the breastworks 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 27J 

It was evident that to hold our position we needed the 
help of the Sixth Corps, and it was almost equally evi- 
dent that it would not arrive in time. 

" A roar of musketry from the wood told us that 
IMcMillan's Brigade had opened its struggle, but did not 
tell us how hopelessly it was overmatched, flanked on the 
left as it was by Ramseur, and charged in front and on 
the right by Kershaw. Within a space of ten minutes a 
sanguinary drama was enacted in that tangled thicket 
of trees and undergrowth. My own old regiment, the 
Twelfth Connecticut, fired three volleys at close quarters 
before it was forced into the first retreat that it ever made 
under the assault of an enemy. The resistance of the 
other regiments was similarly desperate, bloody, brief, 
and hopeless. In the haste of slaughter men could not 
reload, but fought with their bayonets and clubbed rifles. 
After the battle was over, we found corpses here with 
their skulls crushed by the blows of musket-buts, and 
with their life-blood clotted around the triangular wounds 
made by bayonets. The opposing troops were so inter- 
mingled that they could not in all cases distinguish each 
other as enemies. ' What the devil are you firing this 
way for?' said Lieutenant Mullen, of the Twelfth Con- 
necticut, to a squad which he supposed, from its position, 
to belong to the Eighth Vermont, but which was shooting 
down the men of his company. The answer was half a 
dozen rifle shots, fortunately ill-aimed, and an equally in- 



280 LIFE OF GETSTERAL SHERmAlS'. 

efficacious summons of, ' Surrender, you damned Yankee ! ' 
Lieutenant-Colonel Lewis, of the same regiment, was 
saluted by cries of, ' Shoot that officer J ' followed by a 
scattering volley of harmless bullets. As the shattered 
ranks came out upon the open ground they were raked by 
the fire of a line drawn up across the very hollow through 
which they had entered the wood not twenty minutes 
previous. During that day the brigade lost more than 
one-third of its fighting men, the greater part of them on 
this horrible hill of sacrifice, where it offered itself up for 
the salvation of the army. Among those who died here 
was Corporal William Putnam, of Company C, Twelfth 
Connecticut, a lineal descendant of the revolutionary gen- 
eral and patriot, and a brave, noble young soldier. 

" Not a regimental color was lost, and the brigade 
rallied two hundred yards from the scene of its defeat. 
But this second stand was feeble and momentary, effect- 
ing nothing but a little more useless bloodshed. As a 
rule, troops cannot be rallied for good under the same 
fire that has akeady broken them, unless they are sup- 
ported by a reenforcement strong enough to take the 
brunt of the contest off their hands at least for a few 
minutes. A semicircle of dropping musketry converged 
on the new position, coming up the pike on the right, out 
of the wood in front, and down the slope on the left. The 
men seemed bewildered, and could not be brought to fire ; 
indeed, it was difficult for them to judge which way they 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEmAN. 281 

ought to fire. As I rode along tlie rear, begging tliem to 
stand fast and use their rifles, I was amazed to observe 
how these veterans of many fights differed from their 
fornfer selves as I had seen them on fields of victory 
To get another desperate struggle out of them here was 
evidently impossible ; and some one wiser than I, and 
possessed of more authority, ordered a retreat. 

'* A broad view of the field was to be had from the 
elevated point I occupied ; and I could clearly see that 
the battle on our present line was lost beyond redemption ; 
was indeed already roaring and smoking half a mile to 
the rear of us. The Sixth Corps was pushing toward the 
wood behind the late site of our headquarters, and en- 
deavoring to regain possession of the pike, but with 
doubtful prospects of success. Gordon, extending con- 
stantly by the right, and supported now by the full force 
of Ramseur and Pegram, seemed to be outflanking them 
as he had previously outflanked us. Except the two 
brigades of Birge and Davis, all our Nineteenth Corps, 
unable to rally on an uncovered slope, was retreating 
across the front and toward the right of the Sixth Corps* 
position. I had scarcely taken in this fact when Taft was 
ordered to withdraw in the same direction. The only 
road left him was the natural face of the steep and rocky 
hill. The attempt was coolly and carefully made : no 
New Hampshire stage-driver could be more deliberately 
sagacious over a nasty piece of road than were these 



2S2 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 

artillerymen ; but three of tlie four brass Napoleons were 
left bottom up in the rugged gullies. 

" And now the struggle to retain possession of our 
camp was over. Birge*s and Da\is's brigades filed in 
good order down a stony slope overgrown with thickets, 
forded Cedar Creek, and mounted the irregular height on 
the right of the Sixth Corps. Here they formed line of 
battle along a low crest over which Kershaw's bullets 
were singing. 0,ther troops were there ; but what they 
were I cannot say — I was too busy to ask. One line had 
four regimental colors in it, and must have been a bri- 
gade, but could not have contained more than two hun- 
dred men. In front of us, firing from the undulating 
plateau which we had just quitted, we could see the rebel 
infantry. For a few minutes the battle was sharp here ; 
and then it slowly swept rearward again. It was Early's 
continually extending right which turned us out of this, as 
it had turned us out of e^ ery other line that we had at- 
tempted to hold. The Sixth Corps could no more out- 
front it or resist it than we. All our fighting that morn- 
ing was fragmentary, and consequently feeble in effect, 
however gallant in purpose and bloody in character. We 
never could get men enough into action at once ; the 
enemy forever overlapped our front and doubled back our 
left. As a gi'oup of camp-followers passed me, I heard 
one of them say loudly and cheerfully, ' The bloody Sixth 



LITE OF GENERAL SHERmAN. 283 

is going in. They'll stop these blasted cusses. They say 
that they'll hold 'em ! ' 

" But the ' bloody Sixth ' was forced to go, like the 
Army of Western Virginia and the Nineteenth Corps be- 
fore it, only perhaps with rather more deliberation and 
unity, just in proportion as it had more time to prepare 
for the struggle, and to learn the course of the hostile ad- 
vance. I was beside Birge and close in rear of his bri- 
gade, when I saw him look anxiously toward the pike, 
and then order a retreat. The Sixth Corps was retiring, 
and we were in danger of being enfiladed. A thousand 
yards further to the rear, on another crest, the line again 
halted, fronted, and opened fire, while strenuous efforts 
were made to bring up and reorganize the mass of strag- 
glers who were sauntering across the fields toward Win- 
chester. Chase's battery and what remained of Taft's 
went into position ; and for perhaps half an hour the 
battle raged with fury, our men standing up to their work 
with the persevering courage of yeterans ; and then, once 
more, we went slowly to the rear, the movement com- 
mencing inevitably on the left, where the Sixth Corps was 
anew outflanked by that indefatigable Gordon. Fifteen 
hundred yards further back we again turned at bay. The 
men hastily gathered rails and threw up rude fieldworks 
under a long-range fire of the enemy's artillery. A regi- 
ment of cavalry, commanded by a jolly, red-faced colonel, 
whose name I did not learn, deployed in line with drawn 



284 LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

Babres, and turned back some hundreds of stragglers, who 
were immediately clapped into whatsoever regiment came 
handiest. The Nineteenth and Sixth Corps were united. 
We had succeeded at last in dragging our left jQank out 
of the grasp of Gordon. We were in fair condition to 
fight a defensive battle. Whether the rebels perceived 
this, or whether they were simply weary and disorganized 
with pursuing, I cannot say ; but their advance was now 
slow and cautious. There was no musketry ; only a little 
long-range artillery. I supposed that we should make a 
final stand in this position. But we had been driven clean 
off the pike ; and as it was necessary to recover it be- 
fore we could consider our communications secure, Gen- 
eral Wright again ordered the whole army to retreat. 
No longer distm^bed by the fire of the enemy the line filed 
into columns of march by regiments, and moved dehb- 
erately in the direction of Winchester, inclining diago- 
nally toward the pike. 

" Its columns were three miles from the point where 
the fight had commenced, and the van of its multitudinous 
stragglers was already entering Winchester. I wish it to 
be distinctly understood that at this period of the day w^e 
had suflTered a clear defeat ; that we were in the condition 
under which most generals are satisfied to withdi'aw their 
troops fi'om the scene of contest in decent order. We 
had completely lost one battle ; we had lost camps, lines 
of earthworks, twenty-four guns, and twelve hundred 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 285 

prisoners ; we had not been routed, but we had been un- 
deniably and badly beaten. The battle of the morning 
and the battle of the afternoon were two different com- 
bats ; in the first we w^ere flanked and driven, in the 
second we flanked and pursued. 

" At this time, at the close of this unfortunate strug- 
gle of five hours, we were joined by Sheridan, who had 
passed the night in Winchester on his way back from 
Washington, and who must have heard of Early's attack 
about the time that its success became decisive. It was 
near ten o'clock when he came up the pike at a three- 
minute trot, swinging his cap and shouting to the strag- 
glers, ' Face the other way, boys. We are going back to 
our camps. We are going to lick them out of their boots/ 

" The wounded by the roadside raised their hoarse 
voices to shout ; the great army of fugitives turned about 
at sight of him, and followed him back to the front ; they 
followed him back to the slaughter as hounds follow 
their master. The moment he reached the army he or- 
dered it to face about, form line, and advance to the po- 
sition which it had last quitted. Then for two lioui's he 
rode along the front, studying the ground and encourag- 
ing the men. * Boys, if I had been here this never 
should have happened,* he said in his animated earnest 
way. ' I tell you it never should have happened. And 
now we are going back to our camps. We are going to get 
ft twist on them. We are going to lick them out of their 



286 LITE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

boots.* The Sixth Corps held the pike and its vicinity. On 
its right the Nineteenth Corps was formed in double line, 
under cover of a dense wood, the first division en the 
right, the second on the left. The rearmost line threw up 
a rude breastwork of stones, rails, and trees, covered by 
the advanced line standing to arms, and by a strong force 
of skirmishers stationed two hundred yards to the front, 
but still within the forest. For two hours all was silence, 
preparation, reorganization, and suspense. Then came a 
message from Sheridan to Emory, that the enemy in 
column were advancing against the Nineteenth Corps ; 
and shortly afterwards the column appeared among the 
lights and shadows of the autumnal woods, making for 
the centre of our second division. There was an awful 
rattle of musketry, which the forest reechoed into a deep 
roar, and when the firing stopped and the smoke cleared 
away no enemy was visible. Emory immediately sent 
word to Sheridan that the attack had been repulsed. 

" ' That's good, that's good ! ' Sheridan answered, 
gayly. ' Thank God for that ! Now, then, tell Gen- 
eral Emory if they attack him again to go after them, 
and to follow them up, and to give it to them. 
We'll get the tightest twist on them yet that ever 
you saw. We'll have all those camps and cannon 
back again.' All this with the nervous animation char- 
acteristic of the man, the eager and confident smile, 
and the energetic gesture of the right hand down into 



LITE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 287 

the palm of the left at every repetition of the idea of 
attack. 

" At half past three came more explicit orders. 'The 
entire line will advance. The Nineteenth Corps will 
move in connection with the Sixth Corps. The right of 
the Nineteenth wiU swing toward the left, so as to drive 
the enemy upon the pike.* 

" One of our staff officers exclaimed, ' By Jove, if we 
beat them now it will be magnificent ! ' 

"'And we are very likely to do it,' said General 
Emory. ' They will be so far from expecting us.* 

" It must be understood that the enemy's left was 
now his strong point, being supported by successive 
wooded crests ; while his right ran out to the pike across 
andulating open fields which presented no natural line of 
resistance. Sheridan's plan was to push them off the 
crests by a turning movement of our right, and then, 
when they were doubled up on the pike, sling his cavalry 
at them across the Middlctown meadows. With a solemn 
tranquillity of demeanor our infantry rose from the posi- 
tion where it had been lying, and advanced through the 
forest into the open ground beyond. There was a silence 
of suspense ; then came a screaming, cracking, humming 
rush of shell ; then a prolonged roar of musketry, min- 
gled with the long-drawn yell of our charge ; then the 
artillery ceased, the musketry died into spattering bursts, 
and over all the yell rose triumphant. Every thing ou 



288 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAK. 

the first Hue. the stone-walls, the advanced crest, the 
tangled wood, the half-finished breastworks had been 
carried. The first body of rebel troops to break and fly 
was Gordon's Division, the same which had so perse ver- 
ingly flanked us in the morning, and which was now 
flanked by our own First Division of the Nineteenth Corps. 
" After this there was a lull in the assault, though not 
in the battle. The rebel artillery reopened spitefully from 
a new position, and our musketry responded from the 
crest and wood which we had gained. Sheridan dashed 
along the front, reorganizing the line for a second charge, 
cheering the men with his confident smile and emphatic 
assurances of success, and giving his orders in person to 
brigade, division, and corps commanders. He ' took 
special pains with the direction of our First Division, 
wheeling it in such a manner as to face square toward 
the pike, and form nearly a right angle to the enemy's 
front. Now came a second charge upon a second line of 
stone-walls, crests, and thickets, executed with as much 
enthusiasm and rapidity as if the army had just come 
into action. Remember that our gallant fellows had 
eaten nothing since the previous evening ; that they had 
lost their canteens, and were tormented with thu'st ; that 
they hard been fighting and manoeuvring, frequently at 
double-quick, for nearly twelve hours ; and that they were 
sadly diminished in numbers by the slaughter and cou- 
fusion of the morning. Remember, too, that this lost 



LIFE OF GENEEAL SnEKIDAN. 289 

battle was retrieved without a reenforcement. Only veter- 
ans, and only veterans of the best quality, disciplined, in- 
telligent, and brave, could put forth such a supreme effort 
at the close of a long, bloody, and disastrous conflict. 
As one of Sheridan's staff officers followed up our First 
Division, and watched the yelling, running, panting 
soldiers, not firing a shot, but simply dashing along with 
parched, open mouths, he said; * Those men are doing all 
that flesh and blood can.' 

"'Your fellows on the righf went m mighty pretty 
this afternoon,* I heard Cuat>ai say that evening to Emory. 
' I had to sing out to my naef*,* ' ' Are you going to let the 
infantry beat you ? ** 

" Every body now knows by reputation this brilliant 
officer, and can aadcCfitM|\4 that we have a right to be 
proud of his praise. 

" The battle was ever. Cavalry on the flanks and 

infantry in the centre we carried the second line with the 

same rush and with even greater ease than the first. 

Again Eai'ly's army was 'whirling up the Valley,' in 

more hC)peleHK foufusion this time than after Winchester 

or Struabur^ no exertions of the rebel officers being 

sufficient to establish another line of resistance, or to 

check, even momentarily, the flow and spread of the panic. 

"It was nearly dark when our corps reached its 

camps. No new arrangement of the line was attempted ; 

in the twilight of evening the regiments filed into the 

19 



290 LIFE OF GENEEAL SHEKmAN. 

same positions that they had quitted in the twilight of 
dawn ; and the tired soldiers lay down to rest among 
dead comrades and dead enemies. They had lost every 
tiling but what they bore on their backs or in their hands ; 
their shelter-tents, knapsacks, canteens, and haversacks 
had been plundered by the rebels ; and they slept that 
night, as they had fought that day, w^ithout food, 

" But there was no rest for the enemy or for our cav- 
alry. All the way from our camps to Strasburg, a dis- 
tance of four miles, the pike was strewn with the debris 
of a beaten army ; and the scene in Strasburg itself was 
such a flood of confused flight and chase, such a chaos of 
wreck and bedlam of panic, as no other defeat of the war 
can parallel. Guns, caissons, ammunition, wagons, bag- 
gage wagons, and ambulances by the hundred, with dead 
or entangled and struggling horses, were jammed in the 
streets of the little town, impeding alike fugitives and 
pursuers. Our troops dodged through the press as they 
best could, pistoling, sabring, and taking prisoners. A 
private of the Fifth New York cavalry, riding up to a 
wagon, ordered the five rebels who were in it to surren- 
der ; and when they only lashed their horses into a wilder 
gallop he shot two with his revolver and brought in the 
three others. The usually gallant and elastic Southern 
infantry was so stupefied by fatigue and cowed by defeat 
that it seemed like a flock of animals, actually taking no 
notice of mounted men and officers from our army who 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEKIDAN. 201 

wandered into the wide confusion of its retreat. Lieu- 
tenant Gray, Company D, First Rhode Island artillery, 
galloped up to a retreating battery and ordered it to face 
about. ' I was told to go to the rear as rapidly as possi- 
ble,' remonstrated the sergeant in command. ' You don't 
seem to know who I am,' answered Gray. ' I am one 

of those " d d Yanks." Countermarch immediately ! ' 

The battery was countermarched, and Gray was leading 
it off alone, when a squadron of our cavalry came up and 
made the capture a certainty. 

"^ The victory was pushed, as Sheridan has pushed 
all his victories, to the utmost possible limit of success, 
the cavalry halting that night at Fisher's Hill, but start- 
ing again at dawn and continuing the chase to Woodstock, 
sixteen miles from Middletown. 

" It was a gay evening at our headquarters, although 
we were worn-out with fatigue, and as chilled, starved, 
and shelterless as the soldiers, our tents, baggage, rations, 
and cooks having all gone to Winchester. Notwith- 
standing these discomforts, notwithstanding the thought 
of slain and wounded comrades, it was delightful to talk 
the whole day over, even of our defeat of the morning, 
because we could say, ' All's well that ends well.' It 
was laughable to think of the fugitives who had fled be- 
yond the hearing of our victory, and who were now on 
their way to Martinsburg, spreading the news that Sheri- 
dan's army had been totally defeated, and they (of course) 



292 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEKEDA]^. 

were the only survivors. Then every half hour or sc 
somebody galloped in from the advance with such a tale 
of continuing success that we could hardly grant our cre- 
dence to it before a fresh messenger arrived, not so much 
to confirm the story as to exaggerate it. 

" It was ' Hurrah ! twenty cannon taken at Strasburg. 
That makes twenty-six so far.' 

" ' Glorious ! — Don't believe it. — Isn't it splendid !— 
Impossible ! — All our own back again/ answered the 
contradictory chorus. 

" Then came another plunge of hoofs reining up with 
another ' Hurrah ! forty-six guns ! More wagons and 
ambulances than you can count.' 

The spoils of victory were remarkable — seldom, if 
ever equalled in amount, when the magnitude of the 
struggle was not vastly large. Two days later, ranged 
around General Sheridan's headquarters were forty-nine 
pieces of artillery, twenty-four of them our own, which 
had been lost and recaptured ; more than a hundred 
wagons and ambulances, some of them marked '' Stone- 
wall Brigade ; " sixteen hundred small arms in stacks ; 
fifteen hundred prisoners, with several of their battle- 
flags, never more to wave over them in the war of trea- 
son. Not less than two thousand killed and wounded 
had been left on the field. On our side. Gen. Crook had 
lost one bundled killed and wounded, and seven hundred 
prisoners ; the Nineteenth Corps, sixteen hundred killed 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 293 

and wounded, and one hundred prisoners ; the Sixth 
Corps, thirteen hundred killed and wounded ; making the 
entire loss nearly four thousand. 

The feature of the victory which will forever give it 
a solitary preeminence and grandeur, was the retrieving of 
tlie battle — wi'inging from the hands of an enemy flushed 
with conquest the lost fortunes of the day on the same 
field, and with the same army, without reenforcements. 

At Shiloh the unyielding Grant had Buell's twenty 
thousand men added to his well-nigh defeated battalions, 
with whom to save the bloody field. At Marengo, Na- 
poleon turned disaster into victory — one of the few in- 
stances in the history of war of such martial glory ; and 
a glance at the battle will reveal the contrast in Sheridan's 
favor. General Ott, by his delay at Genoa, gave Na- 
poleon the advantage of rapid advance. Melas, perplexed 
with the movements of the Consul, while Suchet de- 
manded attention for a time, accomplished nothing. But 
the Austrian commander at length saw his peril, and 
moved on toward Marengo ; General Ott was also in 
motion. Napoleon, who had not heard of the fall of 
Genoa, w^as contemplating its relief as a surprise to 
Melas, when, on the 9th of June, Lannes, who had 
advanced to Montebello, suddenly came on the Austrian 
army. At eleven o'clock the battle opened. The Aus- 
trians from the surrounding slopes swept the plain with 
their batteries. The field of carnage was a waving har* 



294: LH^E OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

vest- field of tall rye, which so concealed the opposing 
battalions, that often before they knew their proximity 
the hostile bayonets met. Lannes fought like a demon, 
piled around with dead, and breasting the tide of battle, 
till Victor's division could arrive. It came, and the con- 
flict raged afresh. Lannes said of this horrid slaughter 
beneath the amphitheatre of batteries, "J could hear the 
hones crash in my division like glass in a hailstorm." 

At nightfall the roar of combat died away, and five 
thousand prisoners were in the hands of the French, and 
the bloody field was won. When Napoleon rode up, he 
contemplated proudly the blackened hero amid the ghastly 
forms of the slain, and immediately gave him the title of 
Duke of Montebello, in honor of his bravery. The vic- 
tory fanned the enthusiasm of the French, and roused 
the desperate courage of the Austrians. The daring 
Dessaix, who followed Napoleon from Egypt a few 
months later, found upon landing the Consul's request to 
join him in the new campaign. He is said to have re- 
marked of his beloved commander, " He has gained all, 
and yet he is not satisfied." He hastened toward the 
scene of action, to fight under the banner which had 
streamed in the smoke of battle beneath the shadow of 
the pyramids. Napoleon moved onward to the village 
of Marengo, and finding no traces of the enemy, sent 
Dessaix to w^atc' the road toward Genoa, and Murat 
toward Sciivia. On the 14th, Melas, with forty thou 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 295 

sand men, entered the plain of Marengo, before the dawn 
kindled on his forest of burnished bayonets. Naj^oleon 
had twenty thousand troops ; Dessaix, with six thousand 
more, was thirty miles from Marengo. When the con- 
flict began, he caught the sound of the heavy cannonade 
coming like the roar of thunder to his ear, and, springing 
to his steed, hurried his division forward. Napoleon 
sent successive couriers to urge the rushing ranks, on 
whose timely aid hung the fortunes of the terrible day. 
The tempest of fire was too wasting to be resisted. The 
battalions began to reel, fall back, and retreat. While 
Napoleon, with his falling columns slowly yielded to the 
living masses of exulting Austrians, Melas, confident of 
victory, retired to his tent, and prepared for swift m^essen- 
gers the tidings of the grand event. At this critical mo- 
ment Napoleon's restless eye caught the outline of Des- 
saix*s division sweeping into the field. The brave com- 
mander dashed onward to salute the First Consul ; and 
beholding the flight on every hand, exclaimed, " I see 
the battle is lost." Napoleon replied, " The battle I 
trust is gained. Charge with your columns. The dis- 
ordered troops will rally in your rear." Dessaix turned 
and met the tide of fiery devastation as a wall of granite 
meets the angry billows. 

The day declined, and the last smile of the sun, after 
'.he twelve hours' carnage, on whose beginning it rose, 
flashed over twenty thousand men, mangled and bleed 



296 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEKEDAN. 

iog ; the dead and dying in hideous chaos among the 
pools of yet warm blood. 

Such was the turn of the battle-tide at Marengo. The 
routed army of the Shenandoah, to recover the abandoned 
field, with its camps, intrenchments, and cannon, needed 
one man — Sheridan ! The two elements of character 
which won the glory, were decision^ which had the very air 
of conquest, and the most unwavering promptitude in as- 
suming the aggressive. And yet it is wonderful that a com- 
mander, almost a stranger among his troops, should have 
such control over them — ^brin^inoj order out of chaos, and 
hurling back the retreating columns with resistless courage 
and enthusiasm upon the exultant foe, at his leisure rifling 
our camps. Soon as the inspiring presence of General 
Sheridan had reformed the columns by his cheering, en- 
couraging words and tone, finding that the rebels gave no 
sign of pursuit, he ordered the advance. Those who beheld 
the scene declare that it has no parallel in the display of 
nervous, martial command. " Little Phil " went over 
the plain of his broken lines like the incarnation of valor, 
riding from one reorganizing division to another, gesticu- 
lating, storming, animating, and hurling anathemas by 
turns, according to the condition of the troops. Around 
the hero the battle-front glittered and waved its banners 
again, as if by miracle it had emerged from the wild dis- 
cord of the hour. 




CHAPTER XV. 

The Stirring Official Eecord of the Great Battle — General Custar to his Troop* — 
The National Joy and Congratulations — Early's Chagrin — The President's 
Call to Grateful Praise. 

BRIEF and official record of the hard-fought 
battle, and the intense interest of the nation 
in the brilliant achievements of Sheridan, is 
given in the telegrams which went flashing 
over the land : 

"War Dep't, Washington, Thursday, Oct. 20 — 10:45 a. m. 
" Major- General Dix : 

" Another great battle was fought yesterday at Cedar 

Creek, threatening at first a great disaster, but finally re- 
sulting in a victory for the Union forces under General 
Sheridan, more splendid than any heretofore achieved. 
The Department was advised yesterday evening of the 
commencement of the baf!le by the following telegrams : 

" ' Rectortown, Va., Wednesday, Oct. 19 — 4 p. m. 
**' Major- General K W. Ilalleck, Chief of Staff: 

*' * Heavy cannonading has recommenced in the val- 
ley, and is now going on. 

" *• C. C. Augur, Major-General.' 



/ 



298 LIFE OF GENEEAI. BHEEmAN. 

" ' Harper's Ferry, Va., Wednesday, Oct. 19 — 6:40 p. ji. 
" ' Hoii. E. M. Stantoriy Secretary of War : 

" ' Firing at the front has been continuous during the 
day. The direction seemed at intervals to be to the left 
of Winchester, as if at Berry's Ferry. 
" ' No news from the front. 

" ' John D. Stevenson, Brig.-Gen.' 

" ' Harper's Ferry, Va., Wednesday, Oct 19 — 8:45 p. m. 
** * Hon. Edwin M. Stanton^ Secretary of War : 

" ' The enemy attacked our army with great impetu- 
osity this morning at daylight. 

" ' The attack was made on the left of the Eighth 
Corps, and was at first successful, they capturing some 
guns, prisoners, and wagons. Our line was reformed, 
and heavy fighting continued through the day. 

" ' Sheridan was reported at Winchester this morning, 
and went to the front. 

" ' The particulars received are not official, and are 
not favorable, though no serious disaster could have oo 
curred without direct news from Sheridan. 
" ' Kespectfully, 

" ' John D. Stevenson, Brig.-Gen.* 

'' Matters remain in the doubtful state represented by 
the foregoing telegrams until this morning, at 9;30, when 
the following telegram was received, unofficially, report* 
iu^ the great victory won by Sheridan's army : 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEHroAN. 299 

•' 'Harper's Ferry, Ya., Thursday, Oct. 20, 9:30 a. m. 

" *■ News from Sheridan's headquarters at midnight is 
to the effect that the enemy surprised our forces yesterday 
morning, driving the command in some confusion thia 
side of Newtown, capturing artillery and prisoners. 

" ' Sheridan arrived in the field, reorganized our forces, 
drove the enemy beyond Strasburg, capturing, it is re- 
ported, forty-three pieces of artillery, one hundred wagons 
and ambulances, and some two thousand prisoners. The 
rout of the enemy is said to ba complete. This is not 

official, but I think reliable. 

" ' J. D. Stevenson, Brigadier-General.* 

" A few minutes later the following official report of 
his victory was received from Major-General Sheridan : 

" 'Cedar Creek, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 10 p. m. 
*' ' To Lieutenant- General Gra?it, City Point: 

" ' I have the honor to report that my army at Cedar 
Creek was attacked this morning before daylight, and my 
left was turned and driven in confusion. In fact most of 
the line was driven in confusion, with the loss of twenty 
pieces of artillery. 

" ' I hastened from "Winchester, where I was, on my 
return from Washington, and found the armies between 
Middletown and Newtown, having been driven Ij^ck about 
four miles. I here took the affair in hand, and quickly 
united the corps, formed a compact hne of battle just in 



300 LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

time to repulse an attack of the enemy, which was hand- 
somely done at about 1 p. M. 

" ' At 3 p. M., after some changes of the cavalry from 
the left to the right flank, I attacked with great vigor, 
driving and routing the enemy, capturing, according to 
the last report, forty-three pieces of artillery and very 
many prisoners. 1 do not know yet the number of my 
casualties or the losses of the enemy. 

" ' Wagons, trains, ambulances, and caissons in large 
numbers are in our possession. They also burned some 
of their trains. General Ramseur is a prisoner in our 
hands, severely and perhaps mortally wounded. 

" ' I have to regret the loss of General Bid well killed, 
and Generals Wright, Grover, and liickets wounded. 
Wright is slightly wounded. Affairs at times looked 
badly, but by the gallantry of our brave officers and 
men disaster has been converted into a splendid victory 
Darkness again intervened to shut off greater results. I 
now occupy Strasburg. 

" ' As soon as obtained, I will send you further partic- 
ulars. P. H. Sheridan, Major-General.' 

" The battle was fought on the same day, 19th of the 
month, that witnessed Sheridan's victory in September. 

" What the numbers were opposed to General Sheri- 
dan are not yet reported to the Department, but the bold- 
ness, vigor, and success of the attack strongly indicate that 



LIFE OF GENERAL SEERIDAN. 301 

a heavy reenforcemeTit had been sent from Richmond, 
with the expectation of fulfilling Longstreet's boast to 
smash up Sheridan. 

" Longstreet was known to be in the valley, and had 
assumed command of the rebel army, and confident hopes 
of an overwhelming disaster to the Union army were 
boastfully expressed for several days back by the rebel 
adherents in Washington and Baltimore. 

" Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War.** 



" War Department, Washington, D. C, 
Friday, October 21, 11:40 a. m. 



" Major- General Dix ; 

" The following telegram, received this morning, con- 
tains further particulars of the battle of Cedar Creek : 

" 'Cedar Creek, Va., 11:30 a. m., Thursday, Oct. 20. 
^^ ^ Lieutenant- General U.S. Grant, City Point ; 

" ' We have again been favored by a great victory, 
won from disaster, by the gallantry of our officers and 
men. The attack on the enemy was made about 3 p. m., 
by a left half wheel of the whole line with a division of 
cavalry turning each flank of the enemy, the whole line 
advancing. The enemy, after a stubborn resistance, broke 
and fled, and were pushed with vigor. The artillery cap- 
tured will probably be over fifty pieces. This of course 
includes what were captured from our troops in the early 
morning. At least sixteen hundred prisoners have been 
brought in ; also wagons and ambulances iu large num 



302 LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

bers. This morning the cavalry made a dash at Fisher*3 
Hill and carried it, the enemy having fled during the 
night, leaving only a small rear-guard. I have to regret 
the loss of many valuable officers killed and wonnded, 
among them Colonel Joseph Thorburn, commanding a 
division of Crook's command, killed ; Colonel J. Howard 
Kitchen, commanding a brigade, wounded ; Colonel R. G. 
McKinzie, commanding a brigade, wounded severely, but 
would not leave the field. I cannot yet give details. 

" * Many of our men captured in the morning have 
made their escape and are coming in. 

'* ' Kamseur, commanding a division in Early's army, 
died this morning. 

'* * P. H. Sheridan, Major-General Commanding. 

" General Grant's appreciation of the victory at Cedar 
Creek is expressed in the following despatch : 

" * City Point, Thursday, Oct. 20, 8 p. m. 
** * Son. Edwin M. Stanton^ Secretary of War ; 

" ' I had a salute of one hundred guns from each of 
the armies here fired in honor of Sheridan's last victory 
Turning what bid fair to be disaster into a glorious vic- 
tory, stamps Sheridan what I always thought him, one 
of the ablest of generals. 

" 'U. S. Grant, Lieutenant-General.* 

" The Medical Director reports that seven hundred 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 303 

and seventy slightly wounded have readied Winchester 
from the field. 

" All the wounded that are able to bear transporta- 
tion will be forwarded immediately to Martinsburg. 

" The telegraph line is now working to Atlanta, but 
no late reports have been received by the Department. 
" Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War." 

" 'Cedar Creek, Va., Friday, Oct. 21, 1864, 4 p. m. 
** ^ Lieutenant- General U. S. Grant, City Pointy Va. : 

" ' I pursued the routed force of the enemy nearly to 
Mount Jackson, which point he reached during the night 
of the 19th and 20tli, without an organized regiment of 
his army. From the accounts of our prisoners who have 
escaped, and citizens, the rout was complete. About two 
thousand of the enemy broke and made their way down 
through the mountains on the left. 

" ' Fourteen miles on the line of retreat the road and 
country were covered with small arms thrown away by 
the flying rebels, and other debris. Forty-eight pieces of 
captured artillery are now at my headquarters. I think 
that no less than three hundred wagons and ambulances 
were either captured or destroyed. The accident of the 
morning turned to our advantage as much as though the 
whole movement had been planned. The only regret I 
have is the capture in early morning of from eight hun- 
dred to one thousand men. 

" * I am now sending to the War Department ten bat- 



304 LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

tie-flags. The loss of artillery in the morning was seven 
from Crook, eleven from Emory, six from Wright. From 
all that I can learn, I think that Early's reenforcements 
were not less than sixteen thousand men. 

'"P. H. Sheridan, Major-General.' 

" General Stevenson reports the arrival at Martins- 
burg of one thousand five hundred wounded and one 
thousand five hundred prisoners. General Custar arrived 
this afternoon at Washington, with ten battle-flags dis- 
played from the railroad engines. 

" Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War." 

Next to General Sheridan in dash and daring ranks 
General Custar, who succeeded Averill. A splendid 
cavalry officer and a noble man, he is admired by his 
soldiers and fellow-citizens at home. 

The deeds of " Cavalry Sheridan" thrilled the popular 
heart afresh, and placed the victor's name next to that of 
the Lieutenant^General in the great arena of strife directly 
under his control. The President sent his letter of con- 
Kjrratulation to General Sheridan ; and Nov. 14th, upon 
G eneral McClellan's resignation of his command, the hero 
of the Shenandoah valley succeeded him to the major- 
generalship in the regular army, the appointment dating 
from the 8th of the same month. This was a high and 
substantial compliment to heroism and ability, whose last 



LIFE OF GEJSTEEAL SHERIDAN. 305 

and unri\alled work was the triumph with a routed army 
on the 18th of October. 

General Early's chagrin over his defeat Avas betrayed 
in an order to his troops, in which he bitterly reproaches 
them for their " misconduct." 

In view of all these tokens of Divine favor upon our 
arms, our Christian President issued the following call, 
and the first since the war opened, to national praise for 
J ehovah's blessing upon the national cause : 

" It has pleased Almighty God to prolong our national 
life another year, defending us with His guardian care 
against unfriendly designs from abroad, and vouchsafing 
to us in His mercy many and signal victories over the 
enemy, who is of our own household. It has also pleased 
our Heavenly Father to favor as well our citizens in their 
homes as our soldiers in their camps, and our sailors on 
the rivers and seas, with unusual health. He has largely 
augmented our free population by emancipation and by 
immigration, while He has opened to us new sources of 
jwealth, and has crowned the labor of our workingmen 
in every department of industry with abundant rewards. 
Moreover He has been pleased to animate and inspire our 
minds and hearts with fortitude, courage, and resolution 
sufiicient for the great trial of civil war into which we 
have been brought by our adherence as a nation to the 
cause of freedom and humanity, and to aflford to U3 
20 



30G LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

reasonable hopes of an ultimate and happy deliverance 
from all our dangers and afflictions. 

" Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of 
the United States, do hereby appoint and set apart the 
last Thursday of November next as a day which I desire 
to be observed by all my fellow-citizens, wherever they 
may be, as a day of thanksgiving and praise to Almighty 
God, the beneficent Creator and Ruler of the universe. 
And I do further recommend to my fellow-citizens afore- 
said, that on that occasion they do reverently humble 
themselves in the dust, and from thence offer up penitent 
and fervent prayers and supplications to the Great Dis- 
poser of events for a return of the inestimable blessings 
of peace, union, and harmony, throughout the land which 
it has pleased Him to assign as a dwelling-place for our- 
selves and for our posterity throughout all generations. 

" In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand 
and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. 

" Done at the City of Washington, this twentieth day 
of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight 
hundred and sixty-four, and of the independence of the 

United States the eighty-ninth. 

" Abraham Lincoln. 
*' By the President : 

" William H. Seward, Secretary of State." 




CHAPTER XVI 



fie Weeks of Skirmishing— General Early's Movements — Guemr-„- — ^ ^enl 
Sheridan's Advance — A Series of Successes — Another Track ot vesolation. 



)HE remaining weeks of tlie year '864 were 
spent by the armies in the Shenandoah valley 
in watching each other and skirmii/^jing. Tor- 
bert's cavalry had encounters with the troops of 
Rosser and Lomax, sometimes of se^-erity, which, 
on a smaller field of arms than our Republi j, would have 
been called battles. But we soon learned to regard as 
unworthy that distinction any thing less tL ^n the meeting 
in deadly conflict several thousands of the half million of 
troops, and the slaughter of hundreds at J »ast of the com 
batants. 

General Early moved " uneasily up and down the 
valley," seeking reprisals, an assailable \ .int in the Union 
lines, or reM^ and finding neither. His | Aymenade-ground 
extended from New Market, situated > mile east of the 
north fork of the Shenandoah, near the southwest border 



308 LIFE OF GENEEAL SHEEIDAK. 

of the county which bears the name of the stream, and 
Fisher's Hill. He did not venture near enough to the 
ever-ready " Phil " to turn the trooper's steed toward his 
depleted force. And then poor Lee, held by the inflex- 
ible Grant, and chafing in the grasp, must have all the 
available aid, and called for a portion of Early's troops 
in December. 

Meanwhile tidings came to Sheridan that the guer- 
rillas were infesting the beautiful valley of the Blue 
Ridge, and their bullets flying wherever a Unionist showed 
himself — the unpitied target of the murderous bandits. 
The indignant chieftain decided to hum out the beasts of 
prey, as he had done before. So he summoned his 
troopers to the work ; and dashing away to the fearful 
duty of retribution, you might have followed them afar 
off by the columns of smoke by day, under which at 
night blazed a hundred fires of wrath upon the skulking 
homicides of treason. 

Two expeditions resulted in the destruction or capture 
of property valued at more than $7,000,000. The droves 
of cattle, horses, mules, sheep, and swine, were almost 
endless, and seemed so when they moved along the forest 
paths. The guerrillas fled to the Upper Potomac, and 
other points more or less remote. 

During the last month of the year the Sixth Corps 
was sent back to reenforce the Army of the Potomac 
Until late in February, the Army of the Shenandoah had 



LIFE OF GENEKAL SHEEIDAN. 309 

but little fighting to do, but rested and kept a vigilant eye 
on the movements of the adversary. At this moment the 
war was reaching a decisive crisis. General Sherman 
was marching triumphantly through the Carolinas. 
Truly " Sherman, Schofield, and Sheridan seemed to be 
the three S's of the hour." 

A week later it was recorded : " The rapid and bril- 
liant cavalry march of Sheridan up the Shenandoah val- 
ley toward Lynchburg, and the victory reported as 
already gained over Early, is the great event of the week 
in Virginia. On Monday, the 27th of February, Sheri- 
dan's column commenced its march from the camp near 
Winchester. General Hancock was placed in charge of 
the Middle Military Division during the absence of Gen- 
eral Sheridan, with headquarters at Winchester. During 
the first twenty-four hours Sheridan probably marched 
to Woodstock, a distance of thirty miles. Keeping 
straight up the valley, he probably reached Waynesboro 
on Thursday. There, according to all accounts. Early 
first offered effective resistance. A battle took place at 
or near Waynesboro, and it resulted, as we are told, in 
an entire victory for Sheridan, who is said to have cap- 
tured 1,300 prisoners, eight cannon, and about one hun- 
dred wagons. If these details be true, it is a most 
decided triumph, as the force of Early was small at best, 
and could not bear such reduction. Waynesboro is on 
the Central Railroad, at the west base of the Blue Ridge, 



310 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 

about fifteen miles from Staunton, and twenty-five from 
Charlottesville." 

Later came the despatch of the master-spirit of the 
manifold and victorious operations in the valley of the 
Shenandoah, telHng the story of conquest — " Sheridan's 
own," as was sometimes said of his words of glad 
tidings : 

"City Point, March 12, 1865.— T p. m. 
** Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War ; 

" The following despatch is just received. 

" U. S. Grant, Lieutenant-General. 

" Headquarters Middle Military Divisiox, ) 
Columbia, Va., Friday, March 10, 1865. ) 

** Lieut.'Gen. U.S. Grant, Commanding Annies af the United States : 
" General : — In my despatch, dated Waynesboro, 

1 gave you a brief account of the defeat of Early by Cus- 
tar's Division. The same night this division was pushed 
across the Blue Ridge, and entered Charlottesville at 

2 p. M. the next day. The mayor of the city and the 
principal inhabitants came out and delivered up the keys 
of the public buildings. 

" I had to remain at Charlottesville two days. This 
time was consumed in bringing over from Waynesboro 
our ammunition and pontoon trains. The weather was 
horrible beyond description, and the rain incessant. The 
two divisions were during this time occupied in destroy- 
ing the two large iron bridges, one over the Rivanna 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEmAN. 311 

River, the other over Morse's Creek, near Charlottesville, 
and the railroad for a distance of eight miles in the direc- 
tion of Lynchburg. 

" On the 6th of March I sent the First Division, 
General Devens commanding, to Scottsville, on the Jaraea 
River, with directions to send out light parties through 
the country and destroy all merchandise, mills, factories, 
bridges, etc., on the Rivanna River, the parties to join 
the division at Scottsville. The division then proceeded 
along the canal to Duguidsville, fifteen miles from Lynch- 
burg, destroying every lock, and in many places the bank 
of the canal. At Duguidsville we hoped to secure the 
bridge to let us cross the river, as our pontoons were use- 
less '^n account of the high water. In this, however, we 
were foiled, as both this bridge and the bridge at Hard- 
wicks ville were burned by the enemy upon our approach, 
Merritt accompanied this division. 

" The Third Division started at the same time from 
Charlottesville, and proceeded down the Lynchburg Rail- 
road to Amherst Court House, destroying every bridge on 
the road, and in many places miles of the road. The 
bridges on this road are numerous, and some of them five 
hundred feet in length. 

" We have fouud great abundance in this country for 
our men and animals ; in fact, the canal had been the 
great feeder of Richmond. At the Rockfish River, the 
bank of the canal was cut, and at New Canton, where 



312 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 

the dam is across the James, the gunrd-lock was de- 
stroyed, and the James River let into the canal, carrying 
away the banks, and washing out the bottom of the canal. 
The dam across the James at this point was also partially 
destroyed. 

^' I have had no opposition. Everybody is bewil- 
dered by our movements. I have had no news of any 
kind since I left. The latest Richmond paper was of the 
4th, but contained nothing. 

" I omitted to mention that the bridges on the rail- 
road from Swoop's depot, on the other side of Staunton, 
to Charlottesville, were utterly destroyed ; also, all 
bridges for a distance of ten miles on the Gordons ville 
Railroad. 

" The w^eather has been very bad indeed, raining 
hard every day, with the exception of four days, since we 
started. My wagons have, from the state of the roads, 
detained me. 

" Up to the present time we have captured fourteen 
pieces of artillery, eleven at Waynesboro and three at 
Charlottesville. The party that I sent back from Waynes- 
boro started with six pieces, but they were oblioed to 
destroy two of the six for want of animals. The remain- 
ing eight pieces were thoroughly destroyed. 

" We have captured tw^elve canal boats, laden with 
supplies , ammunition, rations, medical stores, etc. 

" I cannot speak in too high terms of Generals Mer 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 313 

ritt, Custar, and Devens, and the officers and men of their 
commands. They have waded through mud and water 
during this continuous rain, and are all in fine spirits and 
health. 

" Commodore Hollins, of the rebel navy, was shot 
near Gordonsville while attempting to make his escape 
from om' advance in that direction. 

*' Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

"P. H. Shekidan, Major-Gen. Commanding." 

When General Sheridan wrote the despatch, he waa 
Oil the banks of the Pamunkey River, near White House. 
A member of the Lieutenant-GeneraFs staff said of him 
at that time, that he ^' had lost in his march about fifty 
men and two officers, all told. His men are mounted., 
excepting about two hundred and fifty. They captured 
many horses and mules, and shot all the broken down 
animals. Nearly two hundred negroes came in with 
him. Women have travelled on foot, carrying children 
two years old, and kept up with his cavalry all the way 
from Columbia. At Charlottesville he was obliged to 
station a rear-guard to prevent the negroes following him 
by hundreds, as he was at that time unable to feed them, 
or to afford the slightest protection. He advanced to 
withii. fifteen miles of Lynchburg, and came within 
twelve of Richmond. Not a bridge is left on the James 
between the tw^o cities ; and not a railroad bridge be- 



314 LITE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

tween Staunton and Charlottesville. His destructioE of 
the canal is thorough. One viaduct could not be rebuilt 
in six months in time of peace. In one or two places the 
river was turned into the canal, and washed it out fifteen 
feet below the level." 

While such scenes were transpiring on the southern 
theatre of war, near its northern border, in the Capital 
of the bleeding Union what different scenes were wit- 
nessed ! The Fourth of March ! It came peacefully 
there, but not without apprehensions. The beloved 
Abraham Lincoln once more stood before the vast as- 
semblage, and took the solemn oath of ofiice. 




CHAPTER XVn. 

General Sheridan's Story of the Great Campaign — His Pen as unerring as hli 
Battle-blade — The Surrender of General Lee — National Joy 

)ENERAL Sheridan has given to the country hia 
own narrative from the track of martial con- 
quest, of the splendid achievements of his arms. 
It is clear and fascinating in its glimpses — indi- 
cating the power to wield with effect the pen, as 
well as the rein and sword. Seldom do we have in a 
General's record of his movements so plain, and yet at- 
tractive history, making unusual length no point of criti- 
cism, but rather one of merit : 

" Cavalry Headquarters, June 16. 
" General : I have the honor to submit the following 
narrative of the operations of my command during the 
recent campaign in front of Petersburg and Richmond, 
terminating with the surrender of the rebel army of North- 
ern Virginia at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, ou 
April 9, 1865. 



316 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 

" On Marcli 26, my command, consisting of the First 
and Third cavaby divisions, under the immediate com- 
mand of Brevet Major-General Wesley Merritt, crossed 
the James River by the bridge at Jones's Landing, having 
marched from Winchester, in the Shenandoah valley, via 
White House, on the Pamunkev River. On March 27 
this command went mto camp at Hancock station, on 
the military railroad in front of Petersburg, and on the 
same day the Second cavalry division, which had been 
serving with the Army of the Potomac, reported to me 
under the command of Major-General George Crook. 
The effective force of these divisions was as follows : 
General Merritt's command, First and Third Divisions, 
S,700 ; General Crook's command. Second Division, 
5,300 : total effective force, 9,000. 

"' With this force I moved out on the 29th of March, 
in conjunction with the armies operating against Rich- 
mond, and in the subsequent operations I was under the 
immediate orders of the Lieutenant-General commanding. 
I moved by way of Reams' station, on the Weldon Rail- 
road, and Malon's crossing, on the Rowanty Creek, 
where we were obliged to construct a bridge. At this 
point our advance encountered a small picket of the rebel 
cavalry, and drove it to the left across Stony Creek, cap- 
turing a few prisoners, from whom, and from my scouts, 
I learned that the enemy's cavalry was at or near Stony 
C-reek depot, on the Weldon Railroad, on our left flank 



LH^E OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 317 

and rear. Believing that it would not attack me, and 
that by pushing on to Dinwiddle Court House I could 
force it to make a wide detour, we continued the march, 
reaching the court house aboul 5 p. m., encountering only 
a small picket of the enemy, which was driven away by 
our advance. It was found necessary to order General 
Custar's Division, which was marching in rear, to remain 
near Malon's erossing, on the Rowanty Creek, to assist 
and protect our trains, which were greatly retarded by 
the almost impassable roads of that miry section. The 
First and Second Divisions went into camp, covering the 
Vaughan, Flat Foot, Boydton Plank, and Five Forks roads, 
which all intersect at Dinwiddle Court House, rendering 
this an important point, and from which I was expected 
to make a cavalry raid on the Southside Railroad, and 
thence join General Sherman, or return to Petersburg, as 
circumstances might dictate. However, during the night 
the Lieutenant-General sent me instructions to abandon 
the contemplated raid and act in concert with the infan- 
try under his immediate command, and turn the right flank 
of Lee's army if possible. Early on the morning of 
the 30th of March I directed General Merritt to send 
the First division, Brigadier-General Devens commanding, 
to gain possession of the Five Forks, on White Oak road, 
and directed General Crook to send General Davie s* 
Brigade of his division to the support of General Devens. 
Gregg's Brigade, of Crook's division, was held on the 



ol8 LIFE OF GENERAL SHERmAN. 

Boydtown plank road, and guarded the crossing of Stony 
Creek, forcing the enemy's cavalry, that was moving 
from Stony Creek depot to form a connection with the 
right of their army, to make a wide detour, as I 
had anticipated, on the south side of Stony Creek, and 
west of Chamberlain's Bed — a very fatiguing march, in 
the bad condition of the roads. A very heavy rain fell 
during this day, aggravating the swampy nature of the 
ground, and rendering the movements of troops almost 
impossible. 

" General Merritt's reconnoissance developed the 
enemy in strong force on the White Oak road, in the 
vicinity of the Five !E*orks, and there was some heavy 
skirmishing throughout the day. Next morning, March 
31, General Merritt advanced toward the Five Forks 
with the First Division, and meeting with considerable 
opposition. General Devens' Brigade, of Crook's Division, 
was ordered to join him, while General Crook, advancing 
on the left with two other brigades of his division, en- 
countered the enemy at Chamberlain's Creek, at a point 
a little west of Dinwiddie, making demonstrations to 
cross. Smith's Brigade was ordered to hold them in 
check, and Gregg's Brigade to a position on the right. 

*' The advance of the First Division got possession of 
the Five Forks, but in the mean time the Fifth Army 
Corps, which had advanced toward the White Oak road 
from the Vaughan road, was attacked and driven back, 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEKIDAN. 319 

and, withdrawing from tliat point, this force of the enemy 
marched rapidly from the front of the Fifth Corps to the 
Five Forks, driving in our cavalry advance, and moving 
down on roads west of Chamberlain's Creek, attacked 
General Smith's Brigade, but were unable to force his 
position. Abandoning the attempt to cross in his front, 
this force of the enemy's infantry succeeded in effecting a 
crossing higher up the creek, striking General Davies' 
brigade of the Second Division, which, after a gallant 
fight, was forced back upon the left flank of the First 
Division, thus partially isolating all this force from my 
main line covering Dinwiddle Court House. Orders 
were at once given to General Merritt to cross this de- 
tached force over to the Boydtown Plank Road, and march 
down to DiuAviddie Court House and come into the line 
of battle. The enemy, deceived by this movement, fol- 
lowed it up rapidly, making a left wheel, and presenting 
his rear to my line of battle. When his line was nearly 
parallel to mine, General Gibbs' Brigade of the First 
Division, and General Irwin's Brigade of the Second Divi- 
sion, were ordered to attack at once, and General Custar 
was directed to bring up two of his brigades rapidly, 
leaving one brigade of his division with the trains that 
had not yet reached Dinwiddle Court House. In the 
gallant attack made by Gibbs and Gregg the enemy's 
wounded fell into our hands, and he was forced to face 
by the rear flank and give up his movement, which, if 



320 LIFE OF GENEEAL SHEEIDAN. 

contiuued, would have taken in flank and rear the infan- 
try line of the Army of the Potomac. When the enemy 
had faced to meet this attack, a very obstinate and hand* 
soraely contested battle ensued, in which, with all his 
t'avalry and two divisions of infantry, the enemy was un- 
able to drive five divisions of our cavalry, dismounted, 
from an open plain in front of Dinwiddle Court House. 
The brunt of their cavalry attack was borne by General 
Smith's Brigade, which had so gallantly held the crossing 
of Chamberlain's Creek in the morning. His command 
again held the enemy in check with determined bravery, 
but the heavy force brought against his right flank finally 
compelled him to abandon his position on the creek, and 
fall back to the main line immediately in front of Dinwid- 
dle Court House. As the enemy's infantry advanced to 
the attack, our cavalry threw up slight breastworks of rails 
at some points along our lines, and when the enemy 
attempted to force this position, they were handsomely 
repulsed, and gave up the attempt to gain possession of 
the court house. 

" It was after dark when the firing ceased, and the 
enemy lay on their arms that night not more than one 
hundred yards in front of our lines. The commands of 
Generals Devens and Davies reached Dinwiddle Court 
House without opposition by way of the Boydtowu plank 
road, but did not participate in the final action of the day. 
In this well-contested battle the most obstinate gallantry 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 321 

was displayed by my entire command. The brigades 
commanded by General Gibbs and Colonels Stagg and 
Fitzhugh, in the Fii-st Division ; Generals Davis, Gregg, 
and Smith, in the Second Division ; Colonels Pennington 
and Capehart, in the Third Division, vied with each other 
in their determined efforts to hold in check the superior 
force of the enemy ; and the skilful arrangement of their 
troops in this peculiarly difficult country entitles the bri- 
gade commanders to the highest commendation. Gen- 
erals Crook, Merritt, Custar, and Devens, by their courage 
and ability, sustained their commands, and executed the 
rapid movements of the day with promptness and without 
confusion. During the night of the 3 1st of March my 
headquarters were at Dinwiddie Court House, and the 
Lieutenant-General notified me that the Fifth Corps 
would report to me, and should reach me by midnight. 
This corps had been offered to me on the 30th instant ; 
but very much desiring the Sixth Corps, which had been 
with me in the Shenandoah valley, I asked for it, but, on 
account of the delay which would occur in moving that 
corps from its position in the lines in front of Petersburg, 
it could not be sent to me. I respectfully submit here- 
with my brief accounts of the operations of the day, the 
response to which was the ordering of the Fifth Corps to 
my support and my command, as also the despatch of the 
Lieutenant-General notifying me of his action. I under- 
stand that the Fifth Corps, when ordered to report to me, 
21 



322 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 

was in position near S. Dabnej's house, in the angle be- 
tween the Boydtown road and the Five Forks road. Had 
General Warren moved according to the expectations of 
the Lieutenant-General, there would have been but little 
chance for the escape of the enemy's infantry in front of 
Dinwiddie Court House. Ayres' Division moved down 
the Boydtown plank road during the night, and in the 
morning moved west, via R. Boisseau's house, striking 
the Five Forks road about two and a half miles north of 
Dinwiddie Court House. General Warren, with Griffin's 
and Crawford's Divisions, moved down the road by 
Crump's house, coming into the Five Forks road, near 
J. Boisseau's house, between seven and eight o'clock on 
the morning of the 1st of April. Meantime I moved my 
cavalry force at daylight against the enemy's lines in 
front, which gave way rapidly, moving off by the right 
flank and crossing Chamberlain's Creek. This hasty 
movement was accelerated by the discovery that two 
divisions of the Fifth Corps were in their rear, and that 
one division was moving toward their left and rear. The 
following were the instructions sent to General Warren : 

" 'Headq'rs Dinwiddie Court House, April 1, 1865 — 3 a. m. 
" * To Major- General Warren, Commanding Fifth Army Corps ; 

" ' I am holding in front of Dinwiddie Court House, 
on the road leading to Five Forks, for three-quarters of a 
mile, with General Custar's division. The enemy are in 
his immediate front, lying so as to cover the road just 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAI^. 323 

this side of A. Adams's house, which leads oat across 
Chamberlain's bed or run. I understand you have a 
division at J. Boisseau's ; if so, you are in rear of the 
enemy's line, and almost on his flanks. I will hold on 
here. Possibly they may attack Custar at daylight ; if 
so, attack instantly and in full force. Attack at daylight 
anyhow, and I will make an effort to get the road this 
side of Adams' house, and if I do, you can capture the 
whole of them. Any force moving down the road I am 
holding, or on the White Oak road, will be in the enemy's 
rear, and in all probability get any force that may escape 
you by a flank attack. Do not fear my leaving here. If 
the enemy remains, I shall fight at daylight. 

" ' P. H. Sheridan, Major-General.' 

" As they fell back the enemy were rapidly followed 
by General Merritt's two divisions. General Devens 
on the right and General Custar on tbe left ; General 
Crook in rear. During the remainder of the day Gen- 
eral Crook's Division held the extreme left and rear, 
and was not seriously engaged. I then determined that 
I would drive the enemy, w^ith the cavalry, to the Five 
Forks, press them inside of their works, and make a 
feint to turn their right flank, and meanwhile quietly move 
up the Fifth Corps with a view to attacking their left 
flank, crush the whole force, if possible, and drive west- 
ward those who might escape, thus isolating them from 
their army at Petersburg. Happily, this conception was 



32i LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEmAN. 

successfully executed. About this time General McKen- 
zie*s division of cavalry, from the Army of the James, 
reported to me, and consisted of about one thousand ef- 
fective men. I directed General Warren to hold fast at 
T. Boisseau's house, refresh his men, and be ready to 
move to the front when required ; and General McKenzie 
was ordered to rest in front of Dinwiddie Court House 
until further orders. Meantime General Merritt's com- 
mand continued to press the enemy, and by impetuous 
charge^ drove them from two lines of temporary works ; 
General Custar guiding his advance on the widow 
Gilliam's house, and General Devens on the main Five 
Forks road. The courage displayed by the cavalry 
officers and men was superb, and about two o'clock the 
enemy was behind his works on the White Oak road, and 
his skirmish line drawn in. I then ordered the Fifth 
Corps on the main road, and sent Brevet Major Gillespie, 
of the engineers, to turn the head of the column off on 
the Gravelly Church road, and put the corps in position 
on this road obliquely to and at a point but a short dis- 
tance from the White Oak road, and about one mile from 
the Five Forks. Two divisions of the corps were to 
form the front line, and one division was to be held in 
reserve in column of regiment opposite the centre. I 
then directed General Merritt to demonstrate as though 
he was attempting to turn the enemy's right flank, and 
notified him that the Fifth Corps would strike the enemy's 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 325 

left flank, and ordered that the cavalry should assault the 
enemy's swords as soon as the Fifth Corps became en- 
gaged, and that would be determined by the volleys of 
musketry. I then rode over to where the Fifth Corps 
was going into position, and found them coming up very 
slowly. I was excedingly anxious to attack at once, for 
the sun was getting low, and we had to fight or go back. 
It was no place to intrench, and it would have been 
shameful to have gone back with no results to compensate 
for the loss of the brave men who had fallen during the 
day. In this connection I will say that General Warren 
did not exert himself to get up his corps as rapidly as hp 
might have done, and his manner gave me the impression 
that he wished the sun to go down before dispositions for 
the attack could be completed. 

" As soon as the corps was in position, I ordered an 
advance in the following formation : Ayres' Division on 
the left in double lines, Crawford's Division on the left in 
double lines, and Griffin's Division in reserve, behind 
Crawford ; and the White Oak road was reached with- 
out opposition. While General Warren was getting into 
position I learned that the left of the Second Corps of th 
Army of the Potomac, on my right, had been swung 
around from the direction of its line of battle until it 
fronted on the Boydtown road, and parallel to it, which 
offered an opportunity to the enemy to march down the 
White Oak road and attack me in right and rear. Gen- 



326 LITE OF GENERAL SHEEmAN. 

eral McKenzie was therefore sent up to Camp road with 
directions to gain the White Oak road if possible, but 
to attack at all hazards any enemy found, and join me. 
General McKenzie executed this with courage and skill, 
attacking a force of the enemy on the White Oak road 
and drivino; it toward Petersburo;. He then counter- 
marched, and joined me on the White Oak road just as 
the Fifth Corps advanced to the attack, and I directed 
him to swing round with the right of the infantry and 
gain possession of the Ford road at the crossing of 
Hatcher's Run. The Fifth Corps, on reaching the White 
Oak road, made a left wheel, and burst on the enemy's 
left flank and rear like a tornado, and pushed rapidly on, 
orders having been given that if the enemy was routed 
there should be no halt to reform broken lines. As 
stated before, the firing of the Fifth Corps was the signal 
to General Merritt to assault, which was promptly re- 
sponded to, and the works of the enemy were soon car- 
ried at several points by our brave cavalrymen. The 
enemy were dri\en from their strong line of works and 
completely routed, the Fifth Corps doubling up their left 
flank in confusion ; and the cavalry of General Merritt 
dashing on to the Wliite Oak road, capturing their 
artillery and turning it upon them, and riding into their 
broken ranks, so demoralized them that they made no 
serious stand after their line was carried, but took to 
flight in disorder. Between five thousand and six tliou 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 327 

sand prisoners fell into our hands, and the fugitives were 
driven westward, and were pursued until long after dark 
bv Merritt's and McKenzie's cavalry, for a distance of 
six miles. During this attack I again became dissatis- 
fied with General Warren. Durinoj the eno-a^rement 
portions of his line gave way when not exposed to a 
heavy fire, and simply for want of confidence on the part 
of the troops, which General Warren did not exert him- 
self to inspire. I therefore relieved him from the com- 
mand of the Fifth Corps, authority for this action having 
been sent me, before the battle, unsolicited, When the 
pursuit was given up I directed General Griffin, who had 
been ordered to assume command of the Fifth Corps, to 
collect his troops at once, march two divisions back to 
Gravelly Church, and put them into possession at right 
angles to the White Oak road, facing toward Peters- 
burg, while Bartlett's Division, Griffin's old, covered the 
Ford road to Hatcher's Run. General Merritt's cavalry 
went into camp on the widow Gilliam's plantation, and 
General McKenzie took position on the Ford road at the 
crossing of Hatcher's Run. I cannot speak too highly 
of the conduct of the troops in this battle, and of the gal- 
lantry of their commanding officers, who appeared to 
realize that the success of the campaign and fate of Lee's 
army depended upon it. They merit the thanks of the 
country and reward of the Government. To Generals 
Griffin, Ayres, Bartlett, and Crawford, of the Fifth 



328 LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

Corps, and to Generals Merritt, Custar, Devens, and 
McKenzie, of the cavalry, great credit is due ; and to 
their subordinate , commanders they wiU undoubtedly 
award the praise which is due to them for the hearty 
cooperation, bravery, and ability which were everywhere 
• displayed. At daylight on the morning of April 2, 
General Miles' division of the Second Corps reported to 
me, coming over from the Boydtown plank road. I 
ordered it to move up the White Oak road toward 
Petersburg, and attack the enemy at the intersection of 
that road with the Claiborne road, where he was in 
position in heavy force, and I followed General Miles 
immediately, with two divisions of the Fifth Corps. 
Miles forced the enemy from this position and pursued 
with great zeal, pushing him across Hatcher's Run, and 
following him up on the road to Sutherland's depot. On 
the north side of the run I overtook Miles, who was 
anxious to attack, and had a very fine and spirited divi- 
sion. I gave him permission, but about this time Gen- 
eral Humphreys came up, and, receiving notice from Gen- 
eral Meade that General Humphreys would take command 
of Miles' Division, I relinquished it at once, and facing 
the Fifth Corps by the rear. I afterwards regretted giving 
up this division, as I believed the enenay could at that 
time have been crushed at Sutherland's depot. 1 re- 
turned to Five Forks and marched out the Ford roaxi to- 
ward Hatcher's Run. The cavalry had in the mean time 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERmAN. 32^ 

been sent westward to cross Hatcher's Run and break 
up the enemy's cavalry, which had collected in consider 
able force north of that stream, but they would not stand 
to fight, and our cavalry pursued them in a direction due 
north to the Namozine road. Crossing Hatcher's Run 
with the Fifth Corps, the Southside Railroad was struck 
at Ford's depot, meeting no opposition, and the Fifth 
Corps marched rapidly toward Sutherland's depot, in 
flank and rear of the enemy opposing Miles. As he 
approached that point the force of the enemy fled before 
the Fifth Corps could reach them, retreating along the 
main road by the Appomattox River, the cavalry and 
Crawford's Division of the Fifth Corps engaging them 
Bllghtly about dusk. 

" On the morning of the Sd our cavalry took up the 
pursuit, routing the enemy's cavalry and capturing many 
prisoners. The enemy's infantry was encountered at 
Deep Creek, where a severe fight took place. The Fifth 
Corps followed up the cavalry rapidly, picking up many 
prisoners, and five pieces of abandoned artillery and a 
number of wagons. The Fifth Corps, with Crook's Di- 
vision of cavalry, encamped that night (the 4th) at Deep 
Creek, on the Namozine road, neither of these commands 
having been engaged during the day. On the morning 
of the 4th, General Crook was ordered to strike the Dan- 
ville Railroad, between JettersviUe and Burke's station, 
and then move up toward JettersviUe. The Fifth Corns 



330 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 

moved rapidly to that point, as I had learned from my 
scouts that the enemy was at Amelia Court House, and 
every thing indicated that they were collecting at that 
point. On arriving at Jettersville, about five o'clock 
. M., I learned without doubt that Lee and his whole 
army were at Amelia Court House. The Fifth Corps 
was at once ordered to intrench, with a view of holding 
Jettersville until the main army could come up. It seems 
to me that this was the only chance the Army of North- 
ern Virginia had to save itself, which might have been 
done had General Lee promptly attacked and driven back 
the comparatively small force opposed to him, and pur- 
sued his march to Burkesville Junction. A despatch from 
general Lee's chief commissary to the commissary at 
Danville and Lynchburg, requiring two hundred thousand 
rations to be sent to meet the army at Burkesville, was 
here intercepted. So soon as I found that the entire army 
of the enemy was concentrated at Amelia Court House, 
I forwarded promptly all the information I had obtained 
to General Meade and the Lieutenant-General. On the 
morning of April 5th, General Crook was directed to 
send General Davies' Brigade to make a reconnoissance 
to Paine's cross-roads on our left and front, and ascer- 
tain if the enemy were making any movement toward 
that flank to escape. General Davies struck a train of 
one iiundred and eighty wagons, escorted by a consider- 
able force of the enemy's cavalry, which he defeated, 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 331 

capturing fi^e pieces of artillery. lie destroyed the 
wagons and brought in a large number of prisoners. 
Gregg's and Smith's Brigades of the Second Division 
were sent out to support Davies, and some heavy fight 
ing ensued — the enemy having sent a strong force of in- 
fantry to attack and cut off Davies' Brigade, which at- 
tempt was unsuccessful. During the afternoon, and after 
the arrival of the Second Corps at Jettersville, which 
General Meade requested me to put in position, he being 
ill, the enemy demonstrated strongly in front of Jetters- 
ville, against Smith's and Gregg's Divisions of Crook's 
cavalry, but no serious attack was made. Early on the 
morning of April 6th, General Crook was ordered to 
move to the left to Deatonville, followed by Custar's and 
Devens' divisions of General Merritt's command. The 
Fifth Corps had been returned to the command of Gen- 
eral Meade at his request. I afterwards regretted giv- 
ing up the corps. When near Deatonville, the enemy's 
trains were discovered moving in the direction of Burkes- 
ville or Farmville, escorted by heavy masses of infantry 
and cavalry, and it soon became evident that the whole of 
Lee's army was attempting to make its escape. Crook 
was at once ordered to attack the trains, and, if the ene- 
my was too strong, one of the divisions would pass him 
while he held fast and pressed the enemy, and attack at 
a point further on, and this division was ordered to do 
the same, and so on, alternating, and this system of at- 



332 LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

tack would enable us finally to strike some weak point 
This result was obtained just south of Sailor's Creek, and 
on the high ground over that stream. Custar took the 
road, and Crook and Devens coming up to his support, 
sixteen pieces of artillery were captured and about four 
hundred wagons destroyed, and many prisoners were 
ta^en, and three divisions of the enemy's infantry were 
cut oiF from the line of retreat. Meantime Colonel Stagg, 
commanding the Michigan Brigade of the First Division, 
was held at a point about two and a half miles south of 
Deatonsville, and with this force a section of Miller's bat- 
tery, which shelled the trains with excellent effect, while 
Colonel Stagg demonstrated to attack them, thus keeping 
a large force of the enemy from moving against the rest 
of the cavalry, and holding them until the arrival of the 
Sixth Corps, which was marching to report to me. I 
felt so strongly the necessity of holding this large force 
of the enemy that I gave permission to General Merritt 
to order Colonel Stagg's Brigade to make a mounted 
charge against their lines, which was most gallantly 
done, the men leaving many of their horses dead almost 
up to the enemy's works. On the arrival of the head of 
the Sixth Corps, the enemy commenced withdrawing. 
Major-General Wright was ordered to put Seymour's 
Division into position at once and advance and carry the 
road, which was done at a point about two miles, Dr two 
miles and a half from Deatonsville. As soon as the road 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 333 

was in our possession, General Wright was directed to 
push General Seymour on, the enemy falling back, skir- 
mishing briskly. Their resistance growing stubborn, a 
halt was called to get up Wheaton's Division of the Sixth 
Corps, which went into position on the left of the road, 
Seymour being on the right. Wheaton was ordered to 
guide right, with his right connecting with Seymour's 
left and resting on the road. I still felt the great im- 
portance of pushing the enemy, and was unwilling to 
wait for the First Division of the Sixth Corps to get up. 
I therefore ordered an advance, sending word to General 
Humphreys, who was on the road to our right, and re- 
questing him to push on, as I felt confident that we could 
brcvak up the enemy. It was apparent, from the absence 
of artillery fire and the manner in which they gave way 
when pressed, that the force of the enemy opposed to us 
was a hea\^ rear-guard. The enemy was driven until 
our lines reached Sailor's Creek, and from the north 
bank I could see our cavalry on the high ground above 
the creek and south of it, and the long line of smoke from 
the burning wagons. A cavalryman, who, in a charge, 
cleared the enemy's works, and came through their lines, 
reported to me what was in their front. I regret that I 
have forgotten the name of this gallant young soldier. 
As soon as General Wright could get his artillery into 
position, I ordered the attack to be made on the left, and 
sent CoIoprI Stagg's Brigade of cavalry to strike and 



SS4l lite of general SHERrDAJS". 

flank the extreme right of the enemy's line. The attaci 
by the infantry was not executed exactly as T had di- 
rected, and a portion of our line in the open ground was 
broken by the terrible fire of the enemy, who were in 
position on commanding ground south of the creek. 
This attack by Wheaton's and Seymour's Divisions was 
splendid, but no more than I had reason to expect from 
the gallant Sixth Corps. The cavalry in rear of the ene- 
my attacked simultaneously, and the enemy, after a gal- 
lant resistance, were completely surrounded, and nearly 
all threw down their arms and surrendered. General 
Ewell, commanding the enemy's forces, and a number 
of other general officers, fell into our hands, and a very 
large number of prisoners. I have never ascertained 
exactly how many prisoners were taken in this battle. 
Most of them fell into the hands of the cavalry, but they 
are no more entitled to claim them than the Sixth Corps, 
to which command equal credit is due for the good re- 
sults of this engagement. Both the cavalry and the 
Sixth Corps encamped south of Sailor's Creek that night, 
having followed up the small remnant of the enemy's 
forces for several miles. In reference to the participa- 
tion of the Sixth Corps in this action, I desire to add that 
4.he Lieutenant- General had notitied me that this corps 
would report to me. Major McClellan and Lieutenant- 
Colonel Franklin, of General Wright's staff, had suc- 
cessively been sent forward to report the progress of the 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEKIDAN. 835 

cori^s in coming up, and on the arrival of Major-General 
Wright he reported his corps to me, and from that time 
until after the battle received my orders and obeyed them ; 
but after the engagement was over, and General Meade 
had communicated with General Wright, the latter de- 
clined to make his report to me until ordered to do so by 
the Lieutenant-General. On the 7th instant the pursuit 
was continued early in tlie morning by the cavalry, Gen- 
eral Crook in the advance. 

" It was discovered that the enemy had lot been cut 
off by the Array of tlie James, and under the belief that 
he would attempt to es'^'ape on the Danville road, through 
Prince Edward Court House, General Merritt was or- 
dered to move his t>\^o divisions to that point, passing 
around the left of the Army of the James. General 
Crook continued the direct pursuit, encountering the main 
body of the enemy at Farmville, and again on the north 
side of liie Appomattox, when the enemy's trains were 
attacked by General Gregg, and a sharp fight with the 
enemy's -nfantry ensued, in which General Greg«^ was 
unfortunately captured. On arriving at Prince Edward 
Court House I fou ]d General McKenzie ^vith his division 
of cavalry from the Army of the James, add ordered him 
to cross the bridge on the Buffalo River, and make a re- 
connoissance to Prospect station on the LjTichburg Rail- 
road, and ascertain if the enemy were moving past that 
point. Meantime I heard from General Crook that ili<i 



336 LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

enemy had crossed to the north side of the Appomattox, 
and General Merritt was then moved on and encamped at 
Buffalo Creek, and General Crook was ordered to recross 
the Appomattox and encamp at Prospect station. On the 
morning of the 8th, Merritt and McKenzie continued the 
march to Prospect station, and Merritt's and Crook's com' 
mands then moving on to Appomattox depot, a point on 
the Lynchburg Railroad, five miles south of Appomattox 
Court House. JShortly after the march commenced, Ser- 
geant White, one of my scouts, notified me that there 
were four trains of cars at Appomattox depot loaded with 
supplies for General Lee's army. Generals Merritt and 
Crook were at once notified, and the command pushed on 
briskly for twenty-eight miles. General Custar had the 
advance, and on nearingthe depot, skilfully threw a force 
in the rear of the trains and captured them. Without 
halting a moment he pushed on, driving the enemy (who 
had reached the depot about the same time as our cav airy) 
in the direction of Appomattox Court House, capturing 
many prisoners and twenty-five pieces of artillery, a hos- 
pital train, and a large park of wagons. General Devens 
coming up, went in on the right of Custar. The fighting 
ontinued tiU after dark, and the enemy being driven to 
Appomattox Court House, I at once notified the Lieuten- 
ant-General, and sent word to Generals Ord and Gibbon, 
of the Army of the James, and General Griffin, com- 
manding the Fifth Corps, who were in the rear, tliat, ii' 







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LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAIT. 337 

they pressed on, there was now no means of escape for 
the enemy, who had reached ' the last ditch/ During 
the night, although we knew that the remnant of Lee's 
army was in our front, we held fast with the cavalry to 
what we had gained, and ran the captured trains back 
alodg the railroad to a point where they would be pro- 
tected by our infantry that was coming up. The Twenty- 
fourth and Fifth Corps, and one division of the Twenty- 
fifth Corps, arrived about daylight on the 9th at Appo- 
Qiattox depot. After consulting with General Ord, who 
was in command of these corps, I rode to the front, near 
Appomattox Court House ; and just as the enemy in heavy 
force was attacking the cavalry with the intention of 
breaking through our lines, I directed the cavalry, which 
was dismounted, to fall back, gradually resisting the ene 
my, so as to give time for the infantry to form its lines 
and march to the attack, and, when this was done, to move 
off to the right flank and mount. This was done, and the 
enemy discontinued his attack as soon as he caught sight 
of our infantry. I moved briskly around the left of the 
enemy's line of battle, which was falling back rapidly 
C heavily pressed by the advance of the infantry), and was 
about to charge the trains and the confused masses of the 
enemy, when a white flag was presented to General Cus- 
tar, who had the advance, and who sent the information 
to me at once that the enemy desired to surrender. Riding 
over to the left at Appomattox Court House, I met Major- 
22 



338 LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN". 

General Gordon, of the rebel service, and Major-General 
Wilcox. General Gordon requested a suspension of hos- 
tilities, pending negotiations for a surrender then being 
held between Lieutenant-General Grant and General Lee. 
I notified to him that I desired to prevent the unnecessary 
effusion of blood, but as there was nothing definitely set- 
tled in the correspondence, and as an attack had been made 
on my lines with the view to escape, under the impression 
our force was only cavalry, I must have some assurance 
of an intended surrender. This General Gordon gave by 
saying that there was no doubt of the surrender of Gen 
eral Lee's army. I then separated from him, with an 
agreement to meet these officers again, in half an hour, at 
Appomattox Court House. At the specified time, in com- 
pany with General Ord, who commanded the infantry, 1 
again met this officer, and also Lieutenant-General Long- 
street, and I received from them the same assurance, and 
hostilities ceased until the arrival of Lieutenant-General 
Grant. I am, sir, very respectfully, yours, &c., 

" P. H. Sheridan, Major-General. 

How sublime and noble the brief interchange of mes 
sages between the valiant Sheridan and his Lieutenant- 
General, when General Lee was brought fairly at bay by 
the hero of the Shenandoah ! 

" I wish you were here yourself," he wrote to Grant 
— a compliment to which the Lieutenant-General may be 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 339 

proud to point. *' If things are pressed," he added, " I 
think Lee will surrender." 

'^ Press things," was Grant's order. It needed no 
order. Sheridan pushed forward rapidly, struck right 
and left, punishing the enemy wherever found, and at last 
forcing Lee to surrender. 

Here is the form of personal parole given by the chiefs 
of the army : 

We, the undersigned, prisoners of war belonging to 
the Army of Northern Virginia, having been this day 
surrendered by General R. E. Lee, commanding said 
army, to Lieutenant-General Grant, commanding the 
Armies of the United States, do hereby give our solemn 
parole of honor that we will not hereafter serve in the 
armies of the Confederate States, or in any military capa- 
city whatever, against the United States of America, or 
render aid to the enemies of the latter until properly ex- 
changed in such manner as shaU be mutually approved 
by the respective authorities. 

E. E. Lee, General. 

W. H. Tayloe, Lieut -Col. and A. A. G. 

Chas. S. Venable, Lieut.-Col. and A. A. G. 

Chas. Marshall, Lieut.-Col. and A. A. G. 

H. E. Peaton, Lieut.-Col. and Ins.-Gen. 

Giles Booke, Major and A. A. Surgeon-Gen. 

H. S. Young, A. A. General. 
Done at Appomattox Court House, Ya., this ninth (9th) 
day of April, 1865. 



34:0 LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN". 

April 9, 1865 ! — Proud and memorable day ! Its de 
dining sun shone upon an impressive scene at Appomattox 
Court House, in Virginia. There the able and haughty 
chieftain of the rebellion surrendered to our unpretending, 
noble Grant, the whole army of Northern Virginia — the 
last hope of the seceded States. Oh ! how the tidings, 
flying on lightning wing, set the bells ringing at midnight 
of that Sabbath ! Men wept and shouted for joy even 
before the dawn of the morning. Then came the marches 
of glad processions, with music and banners, and the 
crowded sanctuaries with prayer and praise. Never, per- 
haps, before did such a tide of grateful, jubilant gladness 
sweep over a nation, half of whose families were in 
mourning for the slain heroes. A Christian Republic 
was exultant, but giving God the glory 1 



ly 




CHAPTER XVni. 

The l*ursuit of Johnston — General Sherman Negotiates — The President Slain — 
A great Transition in the Public Feeling — The Government account of th« 
Assassination — The surrender of Johnston. 

^^^^HE surrender of Lee was followed by that of the 
\>r\ troops in the Shenandoah valley voluntarily, 
with few exceptions. Among the commanders 
were Generals Moseby -and Rosser ; the latter, 
<^f you will recollect, tried his generalship on the 
rear of Sheridan's army near Fisher's Hill. Meanwhile 
the peerless Sherman, after a brief rest in his Southern 
marches, April 10th, the day after General Lee's sur- 
render, started after his old antagonist, Johnston. Kil- 
patrick, on that day, moved his cavalry out on the road 
to Raleigh, and next day, the 11th, the infantry started 
in very light marching order. The march was, how- 
ever, quite deliberate and easy, as the railroad, broken 
up by the enemy between Raleigh and Goldsboro, was to 
be repaired. On the 13th Raleigh was reached, and 
occupied with only a slight skirmish on the outskirts, 



342 LIFE OF GENEK>^L SHEEIDAl?". 

Johnston falling back toward Hillsboro. The enemy had 
destroyed his small navy-yard at Halifax, on the Roanoke, 
Iq consequence of the surrender of Lee. A ram and a 
gunboat, partially completed, were burned. On the 15th 
news came to the same place that Governor Vance was 
captured by our cavalry between Hillsboro and Raleigh, 
on the 13th instant. At this crisis of the national strife, 
in the flush of decisive victory, every heart aglow with 
delight, but toned down in many homes with mourning for 
the unreturning, a bolt from the clear, smiling heavens, 
fell upon the nation's idol, crushing the hope of millions 
in a moment. 

To gratify the multitude, and enjoy needed relaxation, 
the President attended Ford's Theatre on the evening of 
April 14:th. He was no patron of dissipation, or of amuse- 
ments which are represented by the corrupt modern stage. 
He said, when hesitating about going that night, '''• If Ido 
not go, the people will be disappointed." He went, and 
the telegrams which flew over the land told the result. 

"War Department, Washington, April 15 — 1:30 a. m. 
** Major- General Dix, New TorTc: 

" This evening, at about 9:30 p. m., at Ford's Theatre, 
the President, while sitting in his private box with Mrs. 
Lincoln, Miss Harris, and Major Rathburn, was shot by 
an assassin, who suddenly entered the box and approached 
behind the President. The assassin then leaped upon the 
stage, brandishing a large dagger or knife, and made hi? 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 343 

escape in the rear of the theatre. The pistol ball entered 
the back of the President's head and penetrated nearly 
through the head. The wound is mortal. The Presi- 
dent has been insensible ever since it was inflicted, and is 
now dying. 

" About the same hour, an assassin, Tvhether the same 
or not, entered Mr. Seward's apartments, and, under 
pretence of ha\'ing a prescription, was shown to the Sec- 
retary's sick chamber. The assassin immediately rushed 
to the bed and inflicted two or three stabs on the throat 
and two on the face. It is hoped the wounds may not be 
mortal. My apprehension is that they will prove fatal. 
The nurse alarmed Mr. Frederick Seward, who was in 
an adjoining room, and he hastened to the door of his 
father's room, when he met the assassin, who inflicted 
upon him one or more dangerous wounds. The recovery 
of Frederick Seward is doubtful. It is not probable that 
the President wiU live through the night. 

" General Grant and wife were advertised to be at 
the theatre last evening, but he started to Burlington at 
six o'clock. 

"At a Cabinet meeting, at which General Grant wa3 
present, the subject of the state of the country and the 
prospect of a speedy peace were discussed. The Presi- 
dent was very cheerful and hopeful, and spoke very kindly 
of General Lee and others of the Confederacy, and of the 
et=tablishment of government in Virginia. 



344 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 

" All the members of the Cabinet, except Mr. Sew- 
ard, are now in attendance upon the President. I have 
seen Mr. Seward, but he and Frederick were both un- 
conscious. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War." 

"War Department, Washington, April 15. 
** Major- GeTieral Dix : 

^' Abraham Lincoln died this morning at twenty-two 
minutes after seven o'clock. 

" Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War." 

The nation was stunned ; then broken-hearted. Such 
demonstrations of grief have no parallel in the world's 
history — so manifold, profound, and general, attending 
the tidings even in distant lands. The funeral ceremonies 
on the 19th were of the most impressive character. 

During these scenes. General Sherman had opened 
negotiations with General Johnston for the formal sur- 
render of his army. But the terms, which, without the 
assassin's exhibition of the animus of the rebellion, would 
have been deemed too liberal, though undesignedly so 
by the brave Sherman, were rejected by the Govern- 
ment, in the hands of the new President, with feelings 
of horror and grief, awakened by the terrible tragedy. 
General Grant was ordered to take the field, and on 
April 25th secured the surrender of General Johnston to 
General Sherman, on the same conditions as those accord- 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEEDAN. 34t 

ed to Lee. This virtually closed the four years' war of 
the Republic /or its own life. 

The people again rejoiced, though the solemn pageant- 
ry of the President's funeral in the White House, and 
the slow, imposing transit thence of the beloved form to 
the western burial place at Springfield, Illinois, sur- 
pressed its noisy expression. 

And now commenced the breaking up of the two great 
armies which crushed the rebellion, as between the upper 
and nether millstones. The gallant Stoneman's cavalry, 
meanwhile, was sent in hot pursuit of the fugitive and 
arch-traitor Jefferson Davis. 

Stoneman's expedition from Tennessee to North Caro- 
lina began on the 10th of March, and extending over five 
hundred miles, comparing well with Sheridan's havoc in 
the valley of the Shenandoah, was brought to a sudden 
termination by the death of the hydra-headed treabon. 
The magnificent hosts of the Union commenced their 
homeward march. , 




CHAPTER XIX. 

Fhe Armies Converge toward Wasliington — The Unc -^querab'.e Sheridan no4 
allowed to Eest and enjoy Keviews — Is Serenadec— Departs for Texas — The 
Grand Eeview — New Military Department — General Shei idan's Command. 

MID the frequent May showers for several days 
the Union armies marched toward the Capital, 

J^ with banners floating over brave, srlad hearts, 
f^fT^T^v*" to share in the most maornificent pagfeant ever 
« Q^ witnessed on this continent, to open on the 22d 
day of May. On the evening of the 20th, in Willard's 
Hotel, sat Lieutenant-General Grant and General Sheri- 
dan, The latter had been appointed to command the 
forces west of the Mississippi, and was at once to leave 
foi Texas, and take care of Generals Kirby Smith and Ma- 
gi iider. The interview between the Generals was cordial, 
and the plans for closing the conflict freely discussed. It 
was a parting interview, on the eve of departure and 
separation by Sheridan from his commander and the 
scenes of the Potomac Army. 

Suddenly music broke in upon the quiet converse. 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 347 

Two regimental bands, that of the 30th Maine and also 
of the 47th Pennsylvania, serenaded the hero of the She- 
nandoah valley, calling together an immense crowd, who 
shouted : " A speech ! A speech ! *' but in vain. The 
people dispersed, and soon the great captains sought 
repose. 

The next morning Sheridan's cavalry passed before 
him to pay a farewell salute. The General stood on the 
balcony of Willard's Hotel in the full uniform of a Major- 
General of cavalry, smoking his segar, and lifting his hat as 
flag after flag passed by, inscribed with the battles in which 
he was the dii'ecting spirit. The troopers cheered their 
commander, enthusiastically waving their sabres, while 
the bands played " Hail to the Chief! " The column was 
over an hour in passing. General Custar led the column 
— his own division all wearing the " Custar neck-tie," 
which is a bright scarlet scarf with long ends floating 
over the left shoulder. When the head of the column 
had reached Capitol Hill, General Custar retm-ned to 
Willard*s, receiving loud cheers from the troopers as he 
rode up the avenue. They encamped along the Bladens- 
burg road, to be on hand for Tuesday morning. 

General Sheridan's officers dined with him at Willard's, 
and accompanied him to the Baltimore depot. He left at 
six o'clock, with his staff and orderlies, amid the cheers 
of a crowd of friends, to restore law and order in Texas. 

In the review of the troops which followed, the cavalry 



34:8 LIFE OF GENEEAL SHEEIDAN. 

of Sheridan, under the gallant Custar, was there, although 
the master spirit was on his way to a distant field. 

July 17th, 1865, General Sheridan formally assumed 
the position of Commander of the Military Division of the 
Gulf, issuing on that day his official order. This new 
and wide field of operations is one of the five grand de- 
partments of the national military domain, and embraces 
the States of Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Florida. 
Thus General Sheridan had military jurisdiction over 
four States. 




OHAPTER XX. 



General Sheridan a Catholic — His Qualities as Commander— Personal Pres- 
ence — " Sheridan's Kide " — The Poem and its History. '• 



GENERAL SHERIDAN was a member of the Ro- 
man Catholic Church. His great forte in com- 
mand was the fiery enthusiasm with which he 
c|^Aj inspired the men — making them, like himself, 
^ insensible to danger, and resistless in valor. 
Grant, Sherman, and Thomas were great in strategy, and 
calm in execution. Sheridan never failed in his plans, but 
won his victories chiefly through this sublime heroism on 
fire with martial daring and glory. At the head of his 
men he was an animated standard of victory ; like the Am- 
erican flag, always awaking intense patriotic fer^'or and 
activity. 

The fidelity of the staff officer's sketch of the personal 
appearance and habits of General Sheridan, is confirmed 
by all who knew him well: "In person (at least in re- 

349 



350 LIFE OF GENERAL SHKRIDAN. 

pose) General Sheridan would not be called a handsome 
man. Some one has called him an ' emphatic human 
syllable/ If so, nature's compositor set him up in the 
black face, broad letter, sometimes seen in 'jobs' and 
advertisements. It is ' solid * at that. Sheridan is barely 
five feet six inches in height. His body is stout ; his 
lower limbs rather short. He is what would be called 
* stocky,' in horse-jockey phraseology. Deep and broad 
in the chest, compact and firm in muscle, active and vig- 
orous in motion, there was not a pound of superfluous 
flesh on his body at the time we write. His face and 
head showed his Celtic origin. Head long, well balanced 
in shape, and covered with a full crop of close curling 
dark hair. His forehead moderately high, but quite 
broad, perceptives well developed, high cheek bones, 
dark beard, closely covering a square lower jaw, and 
firm-lined mouth, clear dark eyes, which were of a most 
kindly character, completed the tout ensemble memory 
gives at the call. Always neat in person, and generally 
dressed in uniform. Captain Sheridan looked as he was, 
a quiet, unassuming, but determined officer and gentle- 
man, whose modesty would always have been a barrier 
to great renown, had not the golden gates of opportunity 
been unbarred for his passage. Almost the opposite of 
the Lieutenant-General in his intellectual traits, yet like 
him in many social characteristics, it would have been 
difficult for so great a general to have found a more vig- 



LIFE OF GENERAL SnEKIDAN. 351 

orous subordinate, or a more daring executive of the stu- 
pendous plans he formed. Philip Henry Sheridan is 
now thirty-four years of age, and has won a reputation 
second only to Grant himself, and to that embodiment of 
nervous and intellectual force, Major-General Sherman." 
Says another who saw, and observed Sheridan closely ; 
" Sheridan will always be prominent among the Marshal 
Neys of the war for the Union — as the representative of 
that class of fighting generals in which Hancock, Rous- 
seau, Hooker, and Logan are among the most distin- 
guished. These generals have the same character among 
the men with whom they have served as Sheridan has 
throughout the whole country. General L. H. Rousseau 
was by far the most popular general who ever served 
with the army of the Ohio or Cumberland, and his popu- 
larity dated from the day of Shiloh, where he, like Sheri- 
dan, ZecZ, not directed^ his men. Rousseau loves fighting 
as much, and is as naturally a belligerent, as Sheridan — 
fights in the same style, with equal exposure of person, 
equal personal daring, and with equal effect. ' Fighting 
Joe Hooker' received his title from the same predisposi- 
tion for fighting. At the first sound of battle Hooker 
springs nimbly to his saddle, and is off* into the field at 
tJie head of liis men. Rousseau and Hooker are both 
men of large, handsome, towering proportions, and have 
in the field the advantage in that respect of Sheridan. 
Logan is a man of Sheridan's own style in build and ap 



352 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 

pearance, and is the same daring, enthusiastic, and ti^ 
orous fighter that Sherman is. ' Black Jack,' as Logan 
is cal 3d by his men, in consequence of his very dark 
complexion, resembles Sheridan. 

" The latter fights vigorously and roughly, and when 
the tide of battle flows and ebbs most doubtingly he holds 
on most grimly. In private life his great energy is a 
little curt, and his fiery temper a little too quick, but his 
abruptness and belligerency are too honest and natural to 
excite condemnation ; while his manner, when not ex- 
cited or opposed, is distinguished by great courtesy, mod- 
esty, and pleasantry. 

" Sheridan's appearance, like that of Grant, is apt to 
disappoint one who had not seen him previous to his 
having become famous. He has none of the qualities 
which are popularly attributed by the imagination to 
heroes. ' Little Phil ' is a title of endearment given him 
by his soldiers in the West, and is descriptive of his per- 
sonal appearance. He is shorter than Grant, but some- 
what stouter built ; and being several years younger and 
of a different temperament, is more active and wiry. 
The smallness of his stature is soon forgotten when he is 
seen mounted. He seems then to develop physically as 
he does mentally after a short acquaintance. Unlike 
many of our heroes, Sheridan does not dwindle as one 
approaches him. Distance lends neither his character 
nor personal appearance any enchantment. He talks 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 353 

more frequently and more fluently than Grant does, and 
his quick and slightly nervous gestures partake somewhat 
of the manner of Sherman His body is stout but wiry, 
and set on short, heavy, but active legs. His broad 
shoulders, short, stiff hair, and the features of his face 
betray the Milesian descent ; but no brogue can be 
traced in his voice. His eyes are gray, and being small 
are sharp and piercing and full of fire. When mad* 
dened with excitement or passion these glare fearfully. 
His age is thirty-four, but long service in the field haa 
bronzed him into the appearance of forty. He heartily 
despises a council of war, and never forms part of one 
if he can avoid it. He executes, not originates plans i 
or, as Rosecrans once expressed it, ' He fights — ^he 
So;hts ! ' Whatever is ajiven Sheridan to do is accom- 
plished thoroughly. He will not stop to criticize the prac- 
ticability of an order in its details, but does not hesitate lo 
vary his movements when he finds those laid down for 
him are not practicable. He does not abandon the task 
because the mode which has been ordered is rendered 
impossible by any unexpected event. If the result is ac- 
complished, Sheridan does not care whose means were 
employed, or on whom the credit is reflected. He grasps 
he result and congratulates himself, the strategist of the 
occasion, and the men, Avith equal gratification and every 
evidence of delight. His generous ''are for the reputa- 
tion of his subordinates, his freedom from all petty 
23 



354: LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 

jealousy, his honesty of purpose, and the nobleness of hia 
ambition to serve the country and not himself, his genial- 
ity and general good-humor, and the brevity of his black 
storms of anger, make him, like Grant, not only a well- 
beloved leader, but one that the country can safely trust to 
guard its honor and preserve its existence. It is easy for 
one vrho knovrs either of the two — Grant and Sheridan — 
to believe it possible that, during all the period in which 
they have held such supreme power in our armies, not a 
single thought of how they might achieve greatness, 
power, and position, at the expense of country, has ever 
suggested itself to their minds. There is only one other 
character known in profane history of whom the same 
thing can be truly said. Sheridan goes into the heat of 
battle not from necessity merely. The first smell of 
powder arouses him, and he rushes to the front of the 
field." 

The following history of a fine poem, celebrating 
the exploits of the great Cavalry Chief, together with 
the stirring lyric, will close our narrative of the gallant 
Sheridan's career : " Mr. Murdoch, the tragedian, had 
devoted himself during the earlier years of our struggle^ 
with a noble and self-sacrificing patriotism, to the task 
of raising money for the Sanitary Commission, and all 
other benevolent projects intended for the benefit of ' our 
boys in blue.' He had delivered lectures and recitations 
all over the country, the proceeds going to the objects we 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 355 

have named ; and at length, as the war was drawing tow- 
ard its close, his numerous friends in Chicago proposed a 
magnificent ovation for Mr. Murdoch's own benefit — his 
finances having somewhat suffered from his unselfish and 
unsparing efforts in the cause of the soldier and the coun- 
try. At breakfast on the morning of the benefit night, Mr. 
Murdoch, who was staying at Mr. Thomas Buchanan 
Read's house (and who had been chiefly, or at least 
very largely, reciting Mr. Read's noble lyrics and battle 
sketches during the two years preceding), remarked to 
his poet friend : ' I'm sorry. Read, that you did not give 
me some original poem for to-night. Something new 
and fresh that would arouse the audience and set the 
blood leaping through my own veins as 1 spoke. The 
fact is, I feel rather a dread of this occasion ; and with- 
out some stimulus of the kind cannot speak as well for 
myself as I did for others.' Mr. Read suggested that 
it was not yet too late. If Murdoch really wished it, 
he would try his hand at something new. Murdoch, 
however, persisted that it was too late — firstly, because 
poets cannot always write to order ; and secondly, be- 
cause he, Murdoch, would require some hours to study 
whatever Mr. Read — even in the brief space allowed 
liim — might find his Muse willing to offer. ' Neverthe- 
less,' said Read, ' I'll try. That Ride of Sheridan's from 
Winchester to Cedar Creek we have been just reading 
about gives me a subject ; and if you stay here some few 



356 LIFE OF GENEEAL SHEEEDAl^. 

hours, I'll run up to my library and see what can be 
done.* In less than three hours he returned to the 
breakfast parlor and placed in the hands of the trage- 
dian, equally delighted and astonished, the perfect manu* 
script of that noblest and most fiery of all our war-songs, 
' Phil, Sheridan's Ride/ " : 

SHERIDAN'S RIDE. 

Up from the South at break of day, 
Bringing from Winchester fresh dismay, 

The affi-ighted air with a shudder bore, 

Like a herald in haste, to the chieftain's door, 

The terrible grumble, and rumble, and roar, 

Telling the battle was on once more, 
And Sheridan twenty miles away. 

And wider still those billosvs of war 

Thundered along the horizon's bar ; 

And louder yet into Winchester rolled 

The roar of that red sea uncontrolled, 

Making the blood of the listener cold, 

As he thought of the stake in that fiery fray, 

And Sheridan twenty miles away. 

But there is a road from Winchester town, 

A good broad highway leading down ; 

And there, through the flush of the morning lightj 

A steed as black as the steeds of night 

Was seen to pass, as with eagle flight, 

As if he knew the terrible need ; 

He stretched away with his utmost speed ; 



LIFE OF GENERAL SIIERIDAN 357 

Hilis rose and fell ; but his heart was gay, 
With Sheridan fifteen miles away. 

Still sprung from those swift hoofs, thundering South, 
The dust, like smoke from the cannon's mouth ; 
Or the trail of a comet, sweeping faster and faster, 
Foreboding to traitors the doom of disaster. 
The heart of the steed and the heart of the master 
Were beating Uke prisoners assaulting their walls. 
Impatient to be where the battle-field calls ; 
Every nerve of the charger was straiued to full play, 
With Sheridan only ten miles away. 

Under his spurning feet the road 

Like an arrowy Alpine ri\er flowed, 

And the landscape sped away behind 

Like an ocean flying before the wind, 

And the steed, hke a bark fed with furnace ire. 

Swept on, with his wild eye full of fire. 

But lo ! he is nearing his heart's desire ; 

He is snuffing the smoke of the roaring fraj, 

With Sheridan only five miles away. 

The first that the General saw were the groups 

Of stragglers, and then the retreating troops, 

What was done ? what to do ? a glance told him both, 

Then strikuig his spurs, with a terrible oath. 

He dashed down the line, 'mid a storm of huzzas. 

And the wave of retreat checked its cours? there, bec*ufl« 

The sight of the master compelled it to pause. 

With foam and with dust the black charger was gray ; 



858 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEEIDAN. 

By the flash of his eye, and the red nostril's pky 
las seemed to the whole great army to say, 
** I have brought you Sheridan all the way 
From Winchester, down to save the day ! ** 

Hurrah ! hurrah for Sheridan ! 

Hurrah ! hurrah for horse and man ! 

And when their statues are placed on high, 

Under the dome of the Union sky, 

The American soldiers' Temple of Fame ; 

There with the glorious General's name, 

Be it said, in letters both bold and bright, 

" Here is the steed that saved the day, 
By carrying Sheridan into the fight, 

From Winchester, twenty miles away!* 



In 1869, General Sheridan was promoted to the 
rank of Lieutenant-General, vice Sherman, promoted 
to the rank of General, — positions which both these 
able soldiers fill entirely to the satisfaction of the 
whole country. 




CHAPTER XXT. 

General Sheridan's Career in Peace —Promotion and Last Days. 

INCE the 4th of March, 1869, when General Sher- 
idan was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-gen- 
eral, and assigned to the command of the Division of 
the Missouri, inchiding the Departments of Dakota, 
of the Platte, and of Texas, with his headquarters 
at Chicago, the life of the great cavalry chieftain was that 
of an officer of liigh rank in the army of the United States 
in time of peace. The people looked upon General Sheri- 
dan as one of the triumvirate of great generals of America, 
linked in honor with Grant and Sherman. The stormy 
scenes through which he passed as the heroic leader of the 
cavalry forces of the Union Army were transmuted into 
the quietude of official and routine affairs, and the adminis- 
tration of military duties of an executive character. These 
years of peaceful prosperity to the countiy enabled the 
authorities to reduce the army to its minimum standard, and, 
instead of the mighty hosts which made up the armies of the 
United States when General Sheridan was making an im- 

359 



3G0 LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

mortal record for his comitry and for himself, only a few 
thousand men, distiibuted over our vast country, have been 
left to form the nucleus of our militaiy power, for defence 
aofainst enemies at home or abroad. The achievements of 
General Sheridan in his country's behalf, and his exalted 
station in its military councils, justly entitled him to leisure 
and the opportunities of visiting different parts of our own 
and foreio-n countries. Durino- the war between France and 
Geraiany, in 1870-71, General Sheridan visited Europe, and 
was present as an interested spectator at several of the most 
famous conflicts between the armies of these nations, re- 
ceivino- on all occasions the attention and consideration to 
which his eminent rank and abilities entitled him. His 
visit abroad was highly enjoyed, and gave to our hero the 
opportunities for examination into the military systems of 
the old world which he so much desired, and an acquaint- 
ance with foreign rulers and commanders of other coun- 
tries. It is a fact worthy of note that General Sheridan, 
while an honored guest at the headquarters of the Prussian 
army, on two great occasions, at the battles of Gravelotte 
and Sedan, discovered critical moments before the command- 
ing general. Von Moltke, or any of his staff, were aware of 
the situation. At the battle of Gravelotte, the koenig, Yon 
Moltke, Bismarck, and the brilliantly attired staff, Vv^ere stand- 
ing on an eminence which was much exposed to the enemy's 
guns, when General Sheridan concluded from the clouds of 
dust he saw in the rear of the French lines that they were 



LTFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAX. oGl 

rapidly moving by the left flank, and that their artillery 
would soon sweep the hill where the distinguished generals 
and officials were standing. Sheridan quietly informed the 
koenig and the others, and indicated that he should seek a 
place more safe. Within fifteen minutes after Sheridan 
gave the warning, the French artillery opened fire upon the 
hill. Again, at Sedan, Sheridan discovered first that the 
Emperor Napoleon had in his desperation taken the field, 
and was endeavoring by his personal presence to save the 
day, which was clearly going against the French. These 
instances show Sheridan's remarkable quickness in seeing 
essential points at the right time in the hour of battle, 
which is one of the highest characteristics of a great com- 
mander. By these quick perceptions he did eminent ser- 
vice on many occasions during the Rebellion, and these 
traits won for him the admiration of Von Moltke, which 
was increased when he came to see the genius of Sheridan, 
as exhibited by his observations on German and on French 
strateofY and fio^htino^. When General Sheridan returned 
from abroad, after witnessing the Franco-German war, his 
friends recognized that his powers had never been fully de- 
veloped, and that he had military gifts of the very highest 
order. It was his nature to do with his might what his 
hands found to do. He knew all about the army posts. 
He gave great thought to the Indian problem ; he gave at- 
tention to the efficiency of the army, and organized camps 
and schools for instruction. On an historic occasion at 



302 LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

Chicago, the full force and mighty impulse of Sheridan's 
character were shown in, resplendent power, — the time 
when the hearts of Chicago's people were appalled by the 
magnitude of the great fire which devastated that city. He 
took matters into his own hands, and developed the greatest 
energy, and bent everything to his unconquerable will. He 
maintained law and order, infused the most daring cour- 
age, and accepted any responsibility, enforcing his orders 
in a mamier which seemed for the moment to bring forth 
all the tremendous energy which was hidden away for just 
such an emergency. 

General Sheridan's abilities, military education, and 
experience, added to his native quickness to fully compre- 
hend men and situations, enabled him to gain much valu- 
able information, and his travels abroad formed an 
interesting feature of his career in the hapjDv times of 
profound peace, to the accomplislunent of which he had 
contributed so largely. 

During the political distm'bances in Louisiana, in 1875, 
General Sheridan was sent by President Grant to Xew 
Orleans, where he was instrumental in restoring quiet and 
allaying animosities engendered by political excitements. 
The election of General Grant to the Presidency, in 1869, 
left to General William T. Sherman the position of General 
of the Army of the United States ; and, on the latter's 
retirement, November 1, 1883, General Sheridan, by direc- 
tion of President Arthur, assumed the chief command, with 



I 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 3G3 

headquarters at Washington, holding the title of Lieutenant- 
General. During nearly five years he held the supreme 
command of our Army as Lieutenant-General, devoting 
what time he could spare from his official duties to travel 
in various sections of the country, receiving on all occa- 
sions the most cordial greetings from the people, and from 
their highest officials, state and municipal. They saw in 
him the true patriot, the dauntless military hero, the dar- 
ing and impetuous general, whose personality and imerring 
Judo-ment in time of dano;er and disaster could tm*n an 
army, routed and defeated, back upon its foe, and win 
triumphs of which poets have sung, and statesmen paid 
tribute in words of eloquent appreciation. But there 
still remained new honors for General Sheridan. The 
title of General had been conferred only upon Grant and 

Sherman in the entire history of our country, and Sheridan, 

• 

of the trio of matchless heroes of the Civil War, alone 

remamed to receive the highest rank known to om' military 
annals. In the latter part of May, 1888, General Sheridan 
visited the West, upon official duties, travelling continu- 
ously for nearly a week, returning to Washington much 
exhausted, and was obliged at once to take to his bed. It 
was well known to his physician, and to his family and 
near friends, that he had sufi'ered from an organic diffi- 
culty of the heart for several years, but his weakness had 
not given indications of an early ending of his life. While 
Lieutenant-General Sheridan was on his death-bed, the 



3G4 LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

Congress, without regard to party predilections, considered 
the conferring upon him of the title of General. The poor 
lad of obscure beginnings, who had risen step by step 
through the military grades of liis country, performing his 
duties to the great satisfaction of all his superiors, was 
now, as the last and crowning act of his gi*ateful country, 
to be made a General of the Army. In the presence of 
death, while the grim messenger was waiting at his bed- 
side, and the sjDlendid fighter and brilliant leader upon 
many an historic field was making his last battle for life, 
the Congress, on the first day of June, 1888, revived the 
grade of General, wliich was limited to Grant and Sher- 
man. The President of the United States at once nomi- 
nated Sheridan to the place, and he was immediately 
confirmed by the Senate, and sworn in to his oflice, the 
entire proceeding having been accomplished in three and 
one-half hours, an unprecedented celerity on the part of 
the Congress, except in the case of General Grant, at the 
time he was placed on the retired list of the army. Gen- 
eral Sheridan accepted the honor in a letter, which he 
dictated to his secretary. The ofiice of Lieutenant-General 
expired with Sheridan's promotion. 

The recognition of his great services to his country and 
to mankind, by the Congress of the United States, and by 
the President, in the reviving of the rank of General of the 
Army, and the prompt conferring of the same upon him- 
self, as he lay upon what proved to be his death-bed, gave 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 365 

to the dying Sheridan the most heartfelt pleasure. It 
was an honor which he deserved, but one which he was 
to enjoy but for a brief period. Senators Hawley and 
Manderson carried the commission to the bedside of Gen- 
eral Sheridan, and very soon after its receipt he took the 
oath of office and issued the following general order — his 
first and last official act as General of the United States 
Army : — 



Genekal Okder Xo. 37. 

Headquarters of the Army, 
Adjutant-General's Office, 

Washington, D. C, June 1, 1888 



I 



1. The following named officers are appointed aides-de- 
camp on the staff of the general of the army, with the rank 
of colonel, to date from this day: Major Michael V. Sheri- 
dan, assistant adjutant-general ; Captain Stanford C. 
Kellogg, Fifth Cavalry; Captain Stanhope Blunt, Ordi- 
nance Department. 

2. In addition to his duties as aide-de-camp. Colonel 
Blmit will continue to jjerform the duty of inspector of 
rifle practice at headquarters of the Army. 

By command of General Sheridan. 

R. C. Drum, adjutant-general (official) ; J. C. Kelton, 
assistant adjutant-general. 

The depressing influence of the extremely hot weather of 
the National Capital determined his family and physicians 
to remove General Sheridan to the coast of Massachusetts, 
and the United States man-of-wai' Swatai-a was selected to 



366 LIFE OF GENERAL SHEKIDAN. 

convey Mm thence. About the first of July, 1888, the Swa- 
tara steamed down the Potomac on her important mission, 
which was to carefully land General Sheridan and family at 
their summer cottage at Xonquitt, Massachusetts. At last, 
on July eighth, after a tedious voyage of eight days, the 
Swatara arrived, anchored in sight of the General's desti- 
nation, and he was soon safely ensconced in his little 
cottage by the sea, where he had been brought in the 
hope that absolute quiet and the sweet, cool air would 
strengthen the slender thread by which his life was held. 
But, alas ! the fondest hoj^es of the devoted wife and of 
the physicians, with which commingled the tender sym- 
pathy of his grateful countrymen, were not to be real- 
ized. Sheridan's last grim foe was to claim the victory over 
the great chieftain, and, while all tidings had been reassur- 
ins: that at least the fateful hour was not close at hand, like 
the *' thief in the nio:ht " came the final summons. He who 
was so invincible on so many gory fields ; who could inspire 
his troops to almost superhiunan action u|)on the battlefield ; 
whose courage never failed, and whose presence in the 
midst of his troops filled them with feelings of heroic en- 
thusiasm, was to follow the common lot, as had Lincoln and 
Grant, and the patriotic host of leaders of the Union cause ; 
and on the fifth day of August, 1888, at the close of the Sab- 
bath, when all was peace and calm within and without, in 
the fifty-eighth year of his age, Sheridan breathed his last, 
in the quiet retreat of I^onquitt, near New Bedford, Mass- 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 367 

acliusetts, mourned as have been few men in the history of 
the hmnan family. About his brilliant career will cling 
always a romantic interest, drawn forth by the fascination 
of his dashing and intrepid qualities as a military leader. 

His great abilities received from General Grant the high- 
est praise. When asked if there could be found in Europe 
a better soldier than Sheridan, he replied, emphatically, 
" No, there isn't a better soldier in the world than Phil Sher- 
idan." After a long meditative pause, he again asserted, 
" The world never saw a better soldier than Phil Sheridan." 
Such testimony from the most eminent General in America, 
or, indeed, in the world, was as noble and just a tribute to 
his genius and prowess as could be bestowed. 

Like Grant, Sheridan prepared his "Personal Memoirs." 
Until nearly his forty-fifth year. General Sheridan remained 
a bachelor. In June, 1875, he was married at Chicago to 
Miss Ii-ene Rucker, the second daughter of General Daniel 
H. Rucker, one of his much-beloved staff officers, and fom* 
children are the result of this marriage. 

In his private life General Sheridan was imassuming and 
companionablo, and modest in the estimate of his own 
achievements, while it delighted him to give due praise 
to those who had been associated with him in army life. 

He passed away leaving an unsullied fame as one of the 
prominent benefactors of his country, at a time of its great- 
est peril ; and his name and record will live in its annals as 
long as the republic itself shall endure. 



368 LIFE or GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

On the receipt of the intelligence of General Sheridan's 
death, the President issued the following order : — 

Executive Mansion, ) 
Washington, D. C, Aug. (5, 1888. ) 

As a mark of respect to the memory of General Sheridan, 

the President directs that the national flag be displayed at 

half-mast on all the buildings of the executive departments 

in the city of Washington, until after his fmieral shall have 

taken place. By direction of the President. 

Daniel S. Lamont, Private Secretary. 

At twelve o'clock, August 6, the President sent this mes- 
sage to the Congress then assembled at the CajDitol : — 

To the Senate and House of Representatives : — 

It becomes my painful duty to amiounce to the Congress 
and to the people of the United States tke death of Philip II. 
Sheridan, General of the Army, which occurred at a late hour 
last night, at his summer home in the State of Massachu- 
setts. The death of this valiant soldier and patriotic son of 
the Republic, though his long illness has been regarded with 
anxiety, has, nevertheless, shocked the country and caused 
universal grief. He had established for himself a strong 
hold in the hearts of his fellow-countrymen, who soon 
caught the true meaning and purpose of his soldierly devo- 
tion and heroic temper. 

His intrepid courage, his steadfast patriotism, and the 
generosity of his nature inspired with peculiar warmth the 






LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 369 

admiration of all the people. Above his grave, affectioa 

f(»r the man and pride in his achievements will struggle for 

master}^, and too much honor cannot be accorded to one 

who was so richly endowed with all the qualities which 

make his death a national loss. 

Geover Cleveland. 

Executive Mansion, Washington, Aug. 6, 1888. 

As a mark of respect, after the reading of the President's 
message, both Houses of Congress adjourned. The Secre- 
tary of War, the Hon. William C. Endicott, of Massachu- 
setts, issued the following announcement to the Army : — 

War Departme:st, Adjut-Ajst-Genekal's Office, | 
Washington, Aug. 6, 1888. ) 

With profound soitow the Secretary of War announces to 
the Army that General Sheridan died last evening at Xon- 
quitt, in the State of Massachusetts. 

He was born March 6, 1831. Upon graduating from 
AVest Point he entered the army, July 1, 1853, as brevet sec- 
ond lieutenant of the First Infantry. His first service was 
on the frontier of Texas ; then in Oregon and California, 
engaged against hostile Indians in the Yakima expedition, 
and the defence of the Cascades. In 1861, having reached 
the grade of captain in the Thirteenth Infantiy, he was 
placed on duty as chief quartermaster, and commissary of 
the army under Major-General Cm'tis, in the Pea Ridge cam- 
paign ; and subsequently as quartermaster at Major-General 
Halleek's headquarters in the advance on Cormth, Missis- 
sippi. 



370 LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN, 

He was appointed colonel of the Second Michigan cav- 
alry May 25, 18C2 ; brigadier-general of volunteers July 
1, and major-general of volunteers December 31 of the 
same year, having participated with distinction in numer- 
ous eno^aofements in the Armies of the Ohio and the Cum- 
berland, until April 4, 18G4, when he was selected to com- 
mand the Cavalry Corps of the Aniiy of the Potomac, and 
subsequently the Middle Military Division and the Army of 
the Shenandoah. For the gallantry, military skill and 
courage displayed in the brilliant series of victories 
achieved by liis army in the valley of the Shenandoah, es- 
pecially at Cedar Run, he received the thanks of Congress, 
and was appointed brigadier-general of the Army of the 
United States, September 20, 1864 ; and November 8, 18<34, 
was promoted to Major General, U. S. Army, *' for the per- 
s"Cnal gallantry, military skill, and just confidence in the 
com^age and patriotism of his troops displayed by him on 
the 19th day of October at Cedar Run, whereby, under the 
blessing of Providence, his routed army was reorganized, 
a great national disaster averted and a brilliant victory 
achieved over the rebels, for the third time, in pitched bat- 
tle, within thirty days." In the final campaign, which re- 
sulted in the surrender of General Lee's Army, he bore a 
distinguished part. Since the close of the war he com- 
manded successively the Military Division of the South- 
west, the Gulf, the Fifth Militaiy District, the Department 
of the Missouri, and the Division of the Missouri. He was 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 071 

appointed lieutenant-general March 4, 18G9, and assumed 
the command of the Army of the United States November 
1, 1883. In recognition of his military services, the gi-ade 
of General was revived by Congress, to which he was ap- 
pointed Jmie 1, 1888. These achievements placed him in 
the front rank of the great and successful soldiers of his 
time, and are recognized and acknowledged at home and 
abroad. To the Army his loss is personal and irreparable, 
but the work that he did and the associations that cluster 
about his name will be a grateful memory to its older and 
inspiration to its younger officers. 

After quoting the President's message to both houses of 
Congress, officially announcing General Sheridan's death, 
the order closes as follows : — 

The flag will be placed at half-mast at all military posts 
and stations, 17 minute guns will be fired on the day after 
receipt of this order, and the usual badges of mourning 
will be worn for the period of six months. 
By order of the Secretary of War, 

R. C. Drum, Adjutant-General. 
Official, Thomas Ward, Assistant Adjutant-General. 

Kot alone were the President, the Congress, and the chief 
officials of the Army in paying homage to the memory of 
the chivalrous warrior. The resolutions by his comrades of 
the Grand Army of the Republic; the official action of 
leading cities of the countiy; the tolling of bells; the 



372 LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

dirges ; memorial addresses ; the universal expression of 
the press ; the feeling tributes by statesmen ; the tearful 
silence of the multitudes, who, with uncovered heads, 
showed plainly their inward grief ; — these all bore fitting 
testimony to the deep and ever-abiding appreciation felt 
for the dead hero. The Governor and people of Massa- 
chusetts gave evidence of becoming reverence for the dust 
of him whom they had honored while he was living. On 
the eighth of August, a dull, gray day, the aj)pearance of 
which was in keeping with the sombreness of quiet Non- 
quitt, the body of General Sheridan was taken from his 
cottage, and the solemn journey to Washington — to the 
beautiful Arlington National Cemetery — was begun; and 
on the afternoon of the next day the funeral party arrived 
at the Capital, being received with suitable military honors, 
and escorted to St. Matthew's Church, preparatory to the 
last burial rites. The successor in the command of the 
Army, with the guard of honor of the Loyal Legion, and 
other distinguished bodies were present. As the body 
reached the church door it was met by a procession of 
the clergy and the sanctuary boys, who sang the Miserere. 
After the casket had been jDlaced upon tlie catafalque, the 
preliminary burial service was recited, the choir singing 
a f imeral hymn. The interior of the church was effectively 
drai)ed with the American colors, blended with the sombre 
shades of heavy folds of crape. 
The invitatiDDS to the obsequies were issued from Army 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHEltlDAX. 373 

lieadquarters. They were engraved on note paper with a 
heavy black border, and read as follows : — 

♦* You are invited to be present at the funeral ceremonies 
in honor of General Sheridan, which will take place at St. 
]\Iatthew's Church, Washington, at 10 o'clock, on the 
morning of Saturday, the 11th of August." 

The invitations were accompanied by a card of admission 
which contained the followins: : — 

" Admit bearer to funeral ceremonies of General Sheri- 
dan, at St. Matthew's Church, at ten o'clock a.m., on Satur- 
day, the 11th of August. Please be in the church at least 
ten minutes before ten o'clock." 

Among those invited to the funeral were President and 
Mrs. Cleveland, the members of the cabinet and the ladies 
of their families, the judges of the United States Supreme 
Court, the judges of the local courts, the members of the 
diplomatic corps, the members of the Senate and of the 
House of Representatives, and the elective officers of both 
Houses, all the members of the Catholic clergy in Wash- 
ington, all officers of the Army, o^avy, and marine corps 
stationed in Washington, twenty-five comrades of the 
Grand Army of the Rej)ublic, twenty-five of the Loyal 
Legion, eighty members of the press, and a large number 
of personal friends of the family. The total number of 
invitations issued was one thousand and five hundred, and 
no person was admitted to the church without a card of 
admission. 



374 LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAX. 

General Sheridan's funeral took place at St. Matthew's 
Catholic Church, on Saturday, the eleventh day of August, 
1888. The regular jiarochial mass was celebrated at seven 
o'clock in the morning, and at half-past seven Cardinal 
Gibbons officiated at high mass. The burial casket con- 
taininof the remains of the beloved General was mounted 
on a catafalque in front of the main altar, the head facing 
the crucifix and Blessed Sacrament. Upon the centre of 
the top of the casket was a solid silver plate bearing this 
inscription : — 



GENERAL UNITED STATES ARMY. 

BORN, MARCH 6, 1831. 
DIED, AUGUST 5, 1888. 



Within the sanctuary rails sat Cardinal Gibbons upon liis 
pontifical throne, attended by several bishops and other 
ecclesiastical dignitaries. The scene was grandly solemn 
and impressive. Cardinal Gibbons delivered a touching 
and eloquent eulogy on the character and virtues of the 
great soldier, which made a profound and visible imjDres- 
sion upon the gathering of distinguished personages who 
had assembled to witness the last rites. 

Tlie cardmal said, in his exemplary life. General Sheri- 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERTDAN. 375 

clan liad lent a powerful vindication to the immortal 
truth that successful commanders in all countries and in all 
ages were those who were sustained by an unwavering 
faith in Almighty God. and who were devoted soldiers of 
Jesus Christ. Without that, all their labors, all their 
battles won, all their triumphs, were in vain. 

He spoke briefly, calling attention to the fact that, 
although the deceased won his reputation in a war between 
sections, the whole united country now join in paying 
tribute to him. He referred to his modesty, and his ex- 
pression of hope in later years that wars might be averted 
by peaceful methods, and also his affection for his family. 
Sheridan, he said, was a Christian man and died in the 
humble hope of a blissful immortality. He closed with 
words of consolation to the family. 

The sermon was followed by the Gregorian chant and 
prayers for the repose of the soul of the dead, read by 
Cardinal Gibbons, assisted by attendant priests, and closed 
with the benediction services at half -past eleven. 

Upon the conclusion of the mass, the procession was 
again formed in the main aisle and the body was borne 
upon an artillery caisson, heavily draped, which was used 
instead of a hearse. The casket was borne to the caisson 
by the following pall-bearers : Gen. W. T. Sherman, Mar- 
shall Field of Chicago, General Hawley, Speaker Carlisle, 
Frank Thompson, vice-president of the Pennsylvania rail- 
road; Gen. Wesley Merritt, U.S.A., the senior officer of 



376 LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

the Grand Army of the Republic in the District of Colum- 
bia; Secretary Wliitney, General McFeeley, Gen. Joseph 
Fullerton of St. Louis, Secretaiy Endicott, and George W. 
Childs. 

As soon as the remams were deposited on the caisson, 
the funeral procession formed and marched to the Arling- 
ton cemetery, under command of Colonel Gibson. Behind 
the caisson, with the remains, a sergeant of caA'alry led 
General Sheridan's horse, bridled and saddled, with the 
General's boots hanging at the side, with the toes pointing 
to the rear. 

General Schofield designated the troops to act as escort 
throughout the funeral, and had entire charge of the 
arrangements. The officers of General Sheridan's staff 
were Gen. J. Forsyth, Col. George W. Davis, Col. John 
Schuyler Crosby, Col. Fred Grant, Col. James F. Gregory, 
and Gen. George A. Forsyth. 

The services at the grave, which, according to the ritual 
of the Catholic church, are very brief and simple, were 
conducted by the Rt. Rev. John Foley, bishop-elect of 
Detroit. 

The salute at the grave consisted, first, of seventeen guns 
from light batteries, and, second, three salutes of musketry 
from a battalion of infantry, followed by ' ' taps " from the 
cavalry ti'umpet. The procession was formed in the fol- 
lowing order: A battalion of cavalry, batteries of liglit 
artillery, the Marine Band, tlie Third Artillery Band, a 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAX. 377 

battalion of foot artillery, the clergy in carriages, pall- 
bearers in carriages, body bearers, artillery sergeants, the 
caisson bearing the remains, the General's horse, Mrs. 
Sheridan and familj', General Sheridan's military staff, 
President Cleveland and family, the cabinet, the judiciary, 
the congressional committee, the diplomatic corps, repre- 
sentatives of the Loyal l>egion and Grand Army of the 
Republic, followed by citizens. 

After the remains of General Sheridan were laid to rest 
in a mound on tlie crest of Arlington, and the firing squad 
took their position, a grand scene was presented to the 
large concourse jjresent. 

General Sherman, the last of the three great command- 
ers in the late war, on the Union side, took the colors, and, 
unconscious that lie was to be tlie centi-al fiji-urc of the 
occasion, stepped aside from the grave a short distance, 
and, leaning against the flagstaff, gazed meditatively and 
for several minutes upon the work of the artillery, as 
round after romid was fired; the old war hero, witli no 
one near him, stood out like a silhouette against the soutli- 
western sky, his profile being as finely outlined as a bas- 
relief in marble. For several minutes he attracted the 
attention of the vast multitude, and often were his words 
relating to the early death of Sheridan and Grant quoted. 
Undoubtedly, the old man was conjuring again in liis 
mind the problem as to why he, the oldest of the trio, 
should be left to stand upon tlie graves of his comnule.s in 



378 LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN. 

arms. It was a striking jDicture, of wliich General Sherman 
was the central figm-e. 

The j)lace where General Sheridan is buried is at the 
southern edge of a little patch of open ground in the front 
of the old mansion house of the Arlington estate, now 
knovv'n as the Arlington National Cemetery. The smooth 
bit of turf, a short stone's throw across, slopes gently down 
from the main driveway in front of the house ; it is bor- 
dered across the top mth a belt of flowers in which the 
words "Arlington National Cemetery" are spelled out. 
The semicircular edge of the Avoods completes the bound- 
aiy. In the centre stands the flagstaff. The slope faces 
the sunrise; at the head of the grave stands a shapely 
horse chestnut ; on the right hand, a tulip poplar ; on the 
left, a maple. The space marked out is bare of trees for 
some distance from the foot, and, when a monument shall 
be erected there, it can be seen from the windows of every 
public building in Washington, from the Capitol to the 
White House. Behind the spot lie the bodies of upwards of 
twelve thousand Union soldiers, the men who died in camp 
along the Potomac, the slain at Bull Run, ami in the AVil- 
derness, and many a spot not named in the long list of 
encounters between the brave defenders of the Union and 
those who sought its destruction. The purpose in locating 
the grave to one side rather than directly in front of the 
house was to have a background of green trees from which 
the monument would stand out distinctly to the view. 



LIFE OF GENERAL SHERIDAN". 379 

Tlic foliage of the trees hides all except a few of the 
main avenues from view, and softens the prevailing brick- 
red color of the town. On the one hand, the big white 
dome of the Capitol bulges above the level of green 
and red ; the straight, sharj) lines of the Washington 
Monument cut clear across the centre of the picture, 
and the Executive Mansion and the Department buildings 
scattered about pick it out with spots of white, like the high 
lights on a canvas; the Potomac, steammg in the sun, 
shows itself in gleaming patches through the tree tops in 
the foreground ; and all around the i:)icture is the green 
frame of woodland, rising with softening tints to the purple 
hills of Maryland, that mark the limit of the view. 

* ' And Jonathan and Simon took Judah their brother and 
buried him in the sepulchre of their fathers, in the city of 
Modin. And all the peoj^le of Israel bewailed him with 
great lamentation, and they mom-ned for him many days, 
and said. How is the mighty fallen that saved the people of 
Israel." 1 Mace, ix. 19-21. 

These were the words the eloquent Cardinal Gibbons 
chose for his text, and he could scarcely have found iu tlie 
Holy Scriptures anything more appropriate upon which to 
base his masterly fmieral oration and accurate estimate of 
tlie deeds of "Little Phil." And all the people of the 
United States bewailed him with great lamentation and 
they mourned for him many days. "Little Phil " of the 
United States Armv, will be forever a favorite theme for 



380 LIFE OF GEXERAL SHERIDAN. 

all who admire patriotism, military genius, damitless cour- 
age, and those high qualities of which he was possessed, 
and which belong only to the great of earth ; and as future 
generations visit the beautiful spot where his body lies 
buried, it vnW be only to gain deeper feelings of patriotism, 
nobler ideas of what loyalty to one''s country means, and a 
liio;her sense of the worth of the life and character of 
Philip H. Sheridan. 



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TEACHER'S W orkshop 



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LEE AND SHEPARD Publishers Boston 



ustrated By 



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